Stop me if you heard this at some point Saturday night after the Mayweather-McGregor fight, or anytime since: “The whole thing was rigged. Floyd was just playing with him for a few rounds to make it look legitimate in order to sell a rematch and/or heighten the drama. Any fighter out for blood would have knocked McGregor out in two rounds, and you’re a stooge if you think it was on the level.”
You know how when people get angry online, they always try to pretend they’re not mad at all, and say things like, “I’m actually laughing “? Not me. I’m beyond that. I’m beyond trying to look cool, or maintaining emotional control. I’m actually mad at how stupid and misguided this is. AND I WANT TO RANT THE RANT OF THE RIGHTEOUS.
First off, I am not what you’d call a boxing expert, but I did go through a phase where I learned about that sweet, sweet science in a way that went a little beyond the superficial—I watched old fights, read the people who wrote about it in a literary way, and had like…a month?…where I nerded out. What I’m saying is that I understand it enough to know that anyone bitching about a rigged fight has clearly never seen Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight before. The minute I knew I had become an actual boxing fan, during my brief obsession, was when I learned to recognize Mayweather’s genius inside the ring. Before that, I just thought he was boring. I didn’t get his style—probe for weakness, retreat, score tactical points, never lose control, never expose himself. It took understanding the technical side of the sport, even just a little, to realize that he’d run up an undefeated record due to his maddeningly consistent strategic brilliance. Which is a weird thing to say about a guy who in normal life beats women and won’t pay taxes, but there you have it—in the ring, the dude is pure science.