The highly anticipated boxing match between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather turned out to be much more entertaining than most people expected. However, in the end, the result – a tenth-round TKO by Mayweather – was as expected as Mayweather executed his plan perfectly.
One of the most fundamental differences between boxing and MMA is the length of the fights. Mayweather took advantage of this.
McGregor out-punched his foe early in the bout, landing 51 total punches to Mayweather’s 40 in the first five rounds. But once McGregor started to tire, Mayweather became more aggressive and started landing more punches. In the final five rounds, Mayweather landed 70 more punches than McGregor, 130-60.
You can really see the difference in the round-by-round breakdown of power punches landed.
Neither boxer landed a lot of power punches early, with McGregor holding a slight 27-25 advantage through four rounds. One of the judges had McGregor winning three of the first four rounds. The other two judges had it 3-1 for Mayweather after four rounds.
But starting in the sixth round, Mayweather really turned up the pressure on McGregor, landing more power punches in Rounds 6-9 (95) than McGregor did all night (84). And while the fight was eventually stopped in the tenth round, it was the ninth round that finished the MMA star as the power punches landed in those three minutes were 39-8 in favor of Mayweather.
