Sports fans have been ripped off so many times by boxing pay-per-views I never thought I'd write this. But you know what? TV viewers got their money's worth watching's Floyd Mayweather's 10th round TKO vs. Conor McGregor.
That's right, go ahead and forgive yourself for putting $100 into the pockets of Showtime and your greedy cable operator.
Yes, I know. It wasn't the Thriller in Manila or Marvin Hagler vs. Thomas Hearns.
But Saturday's night fight wasn't a farce. In fact it was a helluva lot more entertaining than many so-called "experts" thought it would be. You probably split the cost with a couple of buddies. Besides, what else were you going to watch Saturday night. The Jets-Giants preseason game?
The two didn't dance around the ring mock-fighting. Both predicted a knockout and came to fight. For my money, this was a better fight for fans than Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao— which was a ripoff for sports fans.
Mayweather's victories are usually so boring some fans leave before the bout goes to the judges. But there was Money, plodding forward, stalking his man and throwing that deadly straight right hand.
“When was the last time you saw Floyd Mayweather coming forward to try to knock someone out? Doesn’t happen. So he’s doing that in this fight. That's making it more fun," noted Showtime's Al Bernstein.
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There was a little something for everybody Saturday night.
Boxing purists felt vindicated watching their man beat down the outspoken UFC champion. Mayweather followed textbook boxing strategy: He let the wild brawler punch himself out in the early rounds, then took the offensive as McGregor ran out of gas.
McGregor's boxing inexperience ultimately doomed him as he didn't know how hold off a dominating Mayweather in the 9th and 10 rounds, said Showtime's Paul Maglianaggi.
"This is the inexperience of McGregor," he said as the Irishman wobbled against the ropes. "He doesn’t know how to survive. He doesn’t know how to hold. He doesn't know how to survive when he’s hurt and tired.”
But McGregor also proved that an MMA champ could hold his own, at least for a couple of rounds, with a champion boxer. Mayweather seemed flummoxed at first by McGregor's awkward style and odd punching angles.
ESPN Max Kellerman's predicted McGregor wouldn't land a single punch against the greatest defensive boxer of all time. Yet there was The Notorious McGregor snapping Floyd's head back with a beautiful left uppercut in the 1st round.
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Even hurt at the end of the fight, McGregor wanted to keep going. During a post-fight interview with ESPN, he thought the ref stopped the fight too early.
"If that was MMA, the ref wants to see the nose hanging off your face before he’s even thinking about doing something like that," said McGregor.
Would I pay $100 again to watch a rematch? No way.
I think the 40-year old Floyd proved his point. He might actually be telling the truth for a change by saying he's definitely reitred.
There were still critics harrumphing about the freak-show event Sunday morning. The fight was a "slickly orchestrated long con that reached into your wallet for a hundred dollars," said Bob Ley of ESPN.
But McGregor didn't embarass himself. Unless your family's starving, you shouldn't be embarassed for buying Saturday's night's event either.
Even Mayweather admitted he wanted to put on a show for viewers who felt ripped off by the Mayweather-Pacquiao snoozer in 2015.
“I think we gave the fans what they wanted to see,” said Mayweather. “I owed them for the (Manny) Pacquiao fight. I had to come straight ahead and give the fans a show. I feel like I owed the fans for my last hurrah."
