How do you see the Mayweather vs. McGregor fight going? Who wins, what’s the finish and which round?
ZACK HEYDORN, MMATorch Contributor
As much as I’ll be cheering for Conor McGregor to pull off the upset, Floyd Mayweather is my pick. McGregor will come out of the gate extremely hot and will press Mayweather immediately to try to secure a quick KO. In the end, Mayweather will prove to be too quick and will utilize his premiere defensive skills to stay far away from any danger that McGregor may pose. That is how Mayweather fights go and this won’t be any different. Floyd will pick and pop Conor for 12 rounds leading to his 50th victory via unanimous decision.
JOHN KIM, MMATorch Contributor
The first round will be the most interesting. All the questions we have going into this fight will be answered in the first three minutes. We will see if age has finally caught up to Mayweather. We will see if Conor’s MMA-style striking will be effective. I think Floyd will be a step slower and I think Conor will be able to land on Mayweather. Floyd will make adjustments and start to out-box Conor. Floyd will go to the body and start zapping Conor of his energy. I think Conor will slow down significantly in the later rounds and that’s where Mayweather will start to impose his will.
ANDY MONSON, MMATorch Contributor
The most logical answer is a Mayweather decision (unless Nate Diaz runs in and hits them both with a steel chair to set up a triple threat match). I don’t want to hear about size, southpaws, angles, I do Portal Movement culture, ten seconds of edited sparring footage with Paulie Malignaggi, age, or that time Conor watched “The Secret” on DVD. McGregor will most likely attempt to engage in showboating and tomfoolery early on and Mayweather will do what he does best; win boxing matches. Floyd’s ability to make mid-fight distance and timing adjustments is unparalleled and, while he’ll attempt to play mind-games and not show it, Conor will get flustered looking for – and failing to find – that one big straight left.
FRANK HYDEN, MMATorch Contributor
I expect Mayweather to do what he does best, and that is go into a defensive shell. I think we get a typical Mayweather fight which, quite frankly, isn’t all that exciting. I think McGregor boxes with Mayweather and loses the decision. I think McGregor could stop Mayweather and shock the world, but only if he defies expectations and logic and rushes Mayweather. If he does that, though, there’s always the possibility that he looks foolish as Mayweather avoids every punch. McGregor has virtually no chance to beat Mayweather in a boxing match. Mayweather has openly spoken of wanting to retire undefeated; he’s not going to take any risk during the fight that could lead to him getting stopped.
Mayweather may be older, and has maybe even lost a step. Maybe even two steps. However, even if that’s true, he’s still been training to be a boxer longer than McGregor has been alive. He’s still been dreaming of retiring undefeated and making his claim to being the greatest boxer of all-time. He’s still wanting to keep the door open to box again for another huge payday. A loss to McGregor changes all that, and I don’t think Mayweather will allow that to happen, at least not without doing everything he possibly can to prevent it.
JOHN HARRIS, MMATorch Contributor
I see Mayweather winning this by decision. Floyd is one of, if not the best defensive boxer of all time. An all-time great like Manny Pacquiao was only able to land 19 percent of his punches thrown against Mayweather during their 2015 bout, I do not see Conor McGregor doing better than that. As for why I picked decision victory, out of Mayweather’s 49 career wins, only 26 have been by stoppage. Out of those 26 stoppages, only two of them have happened since 2007. McGregor has great knockout power in MMA gloves. I’m just not sure how that will transfer to boxing. The flash knockout is really the only way I see McGregor winning this fight since hall of fame level boxers have never come close to out-pointing him.
MICHAEL GROCKE, MMATorch Contributor
When this fight was first being considered, I said if Floyd Mayweather wanted to prove a point he’ll knock Conor McGregor out within the first two rounds. Then I saw the opening odds, which only solidified my stance. Then I saw the over/under on rounds set at nine, which gave me pause. The more I thought about it, the more the rounds total being set at nine made sense. Mayweather doesn’t knock his opponents out. Mayweather has cardio for days and uses it to outlast his competitors. It’s a good, but boring strategy. I see him using the exact same strategy against McGregor. Conor doesn’t have the best cardio to begin with and I don’t see him being able to keep up with Mayweather on fight night. McGregor will probably win a round or two, but as the fight progresses I expect Mayweather to start wearing Conor out by going to the body repeatedly. This will wear Conor out, leading to a ninth round TKO for Floyd Mayweather.
NOW CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS ROUNDTABLE: Do you sense this is a bigger deal today than when the fight was first announced? Why or why not?
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