Floyd Mayweather stops Conor McGregor: Five things we learned from the fight

Even in defeat, McGregor served a purpose:
As expected, Conor McGregor started to flag after a positive first few rounds. He had the stamina to withstand much of what he took, but he didn’t have ‘boxer’s stamina’ to keep dishing anything out with power or accuracy. However, he went to his corner after the 10th-round stoppage with a smile on his face. Clearly beaten but not seriously hurt, he knew he had nothing to lose in a big money venture. And he even forced Mayweather to come forward and attack for the first time in absolute ages, giving a better fight than ‘real’ boxers such as Andre Berto and Robert Guerrero ever could. McGregor came in, shook things up and made people take notice. And whatever he does next, everybody will be watching that, too.

Money? You bet! Already set to smash records as the most lucrative fight ever, reports came in that six different bets came in on fight night worth over $1 million apiece. Six seven-figure bets all on the outcome of this fight. Not to mention the truckloads of regular-sized and reasonably-large bets on MayMac.

READ MORE: Celeb spotting and all the best action photos from the fight

A culture shock for MMA diehards: In boxing, not everyone who buys a ticket aims to arrive at the venue for the entire card. When it comes to Las Vegas and big-name spectacles such as Floyd Mayweather fights, it isn’t even just the preliminaries that play out to an empty arena. With the four-fight PPV card well underway, there were still only a few thousand in their seats within the 20,000 T-Mobile Arena. And that was something many of the mixed martial arts media and UFC fans found to be inexplicable. Here are more details.

Next Mayweather? Next Broner, more like: Gervonta Davis is Floyd Mayweather’s unbeaten protege and the 22-year-old, now 19-0, has been regarded by some as the successor to Floyd’s throne. This week, however, he has resembled Adrien Broner more than ‘Money’ Mac. Failure to make weight meant Davis lost his IBF junior lightweight title on the scales. Then, after coming to the ring in what can only be described as a Smurf tribute outfit with matching blue fur ‘sideburns’ down his shorts, Davis fought at half speed against the overpowered and outmatched Francisco Fonseca, getting caught several times while showboating. He then won it early in round eight with what turned out to be a rabbit punch before dropping to the mat beside his fallen opponent to mock his prone position on the canvas. The entire ‘show’ earned Davis boos across the steadily-filling arena, and has damaged his reputation as a next big thing.

READ MORE: Mayweather says he executed plan perfectly

READ MORE: McGregor annoyed by stoppage

Badou Jack loves boxing Brits: Less than two years ago, Badou Jack was impressive in denying George Groves a world title at his third attempt. In January of this year, he looked good again despite only scoring a majority draw against James Degale. And Jack’s strong showings versus British opponents peaked with a one-sided destruction of Nathan Cleverly. It took the Swede less than five rounds to stop Clev and take his WBA light-heavyweight strap. Don’t be surprised if he’s the last British boxer who agrees to step into the ring with Badou, either.