I've had a second and third viewing of the shenanigans that took place in Las Vegas last night. After originally scoring the fight 6 rounds to 3 in favor of Mayweather before it was stopped approaching the midway point of the 10th round -- upon further reflection -- I might have only one round I'd reconsider my scoring, which would have made my scorecard 7 rounds to 2 in favor of the undefeated boxer.
That's not a knock on McGregor, though there is clearly a lot here to knock as far as overall boxing acumen.
In fact, McGregor exceeded my expectations.
I didn't expect McGregor to be as effective in keeping a minimum safe distance from harm, and I also didn't expect McGregor to be as eager to engage as often as he did early in the fight.
To be quite honest, my expectations were pretty low as far as success for McGregor to begin with that almost any and all activity was far greater than I'd imagined.
Both fighters relied on some rather nefarious tactics from time to time (the hammer punch from McGregor, the elbow in the throat from Mayweather) but it was the undefeated boxer who fought the better, smarter fight.
Mayweather withstood more than a few flurries of activity from the UFC champion -- particularly in the early rounds -- before taking full advantage of a shift in energy as the fight wore on.
To those who would argue that the fight was stopped too soon, let me start with a simple, one word answer.
No.
McGregor, by the time round 9 had concluded, was clearly gassed. The momentary break between rounds was only a temporary stopgap to the end.
McGregor had stopped defending himself for a long enough period of time in the final seconds before the stoppage where it was clear he couldn't compete.
I would argue that those who feel the stoppage was too soon are the same ones who watch MMA fights and complain, either to a valid point or not, that referees allow fights to go on too long.
The end was at hand, and referee Robert Byrd made the correct call.
There were some questionable decisions however during the course of the fight, where Byrd didn't seem to be at the top of his decision-making ability.
Even after appearing at times to specifically address McGregor moments before the opening bell about what was and wasn't allowed during the fight, Byrd rarely admonished McGregor for doing everything from punching behind the head to moments where McGregor threw punches to Mayweather's body while standing behind him.
Mayweather wasn't going to be critical of Byrd's performance in the post-fight breakdown, while McGregor criticized the referee's decision to stop the fight early.
This is not a topic worth debating. McGregor had every opportunity and couldn't capitalize.
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So what's next for both Mayweather and McGregor?
UFC President Dana White suggested after the fight that he wasn't particularly eager to see his champion go back into the boxing ring again.
“This isn’t what he does," White said of McGregor. "He’s a mixed martial artist where he goes in and he fights and he uses all of his weapons, and tonight he was only allowed use his hands. I think he did great tonight, I don’t think there’s anything else left to prove. I would rather he fight in mixed martial arts.”
Meantime, barring something unforeseen, Mayweather will indeed head off into retirement.
Both of these ideas are exceptional ones.
McGregor has nothing to prove to the boxing world. While he did stand toe-to-toe with arguably the best boxer of this generation, his unorthodox style doesn't belong in the ring. His MMA skills are unquestioned, and he has titles to defend in the UFC.
Mayweather, on the flipside, has clearly passed his prime. Not the worst thing to say about a 40-year-old multiple boxing champion, but his game has slowed a great deal in the 2 years since his last bout.