McGregor’s disciplined if raw approach continued into the third as he continued to snap straight right-hand leads while Mayweather tried to set traps. The roughhousing continued as McGregor found the back of Mayweather’s head once more, this time avoiding a warning. Mayweather was struggling to let his hands go, but not for long.
Mayweather came alive in the fourth, stepping into the pocket and landing a right hand and a hook to the body. He continued to close the distance and suddenly it was McGregor in retreat. It took a bit longer than usual, perhaps owing to the 714-day layoff, but Mayweather had zeroed in on his strategy: he was going to fight McGregor inside.
Midway through the fifth round McGregor was showing signs of fatigue as Mayweather was speeding up, landing a hard body shot followed by a chopping left hand early in the frame that dazed the Irishman, whose punches no longer had anything behind them. By the sixth McGregor was taking deep breaths and Mayweather continued to march inside, landing three straight rights that brought the crowd to their feet.
The bigger man was getting bullied and not even the chants of “Con-or! Con-or!” that cascaded down from the Irish fans in the stands could breathe life into their man. Mayweather was in total control. He continued to press in the seventh with McGregor in survival mode, shredding the Irishman with a three-punch combination punctuated with a right cross. What punches McGregor could manage were devoid of snap. The punishment continued into the eighth as Mayweather bounced punches one after another off McGregor, snapping his neck back with an uppercut near the end of the frame.
McGregor, in somewhat of a surprise, sprinted from his corner in the ninth and for a third time forced the referee to unwrap him from Mayweather’s back, prompting another stern warning. But Mayweather picked right up where he left off once proceedings resumed, cracking McGregor with a combination upstairs that left him spun round and handing onto the ropes to stay upright. One, two, three, four right hands bounced off McGregor’s head and McGregor looked ready to go, saved by the bell.
The end came early in the 10th when Mayweather landed a right hand that sent McGregor reeling before following up with a dozen unanswered punches, prompting Byrd to intervene at the 1:05 mark.
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