Watching the Mayweather/McGregor Fight

I had the chance to watch the Mayweather/McGregor fight on Saturday. I don’t typically watch much boxing or MMA, but this was a fight that had gotten so much hype, I decided to give it a shot. I enjoy watching boxing matches, and I still remember watching the Bite Fight back when I was in high school, when Mike Tyson bit Holyfield’s ear off. (Okay, just a piece of his ear, but still.) Tomas wanted to come watch as well, so why not?

Finding out when exactly the fight was going to start was tricky. The best I’d been able to find was 9pm on Saturday. Tomas and I had been up since 5:30am that morning, but I thought 9pm wasn’t too late to watch. We’d be done by 10pm or so at the latest, and then home by 10:15.

At 9pm, we discovered there would be three boxing matches that happened before the main event. I faced a choice: head home and just read up on the fight later, or hang around. Since we were already there, and having a good time, we hung around. How late could it really go? I also didn’t think it would be much of a fight. I figured Mayweather would overwhelm McGregor easily, and that would be that.

The fight started at midnight. (Of the three lead-in fights, only one was really worth watching, in my opinion. The first was drawn out. The second was quite exciting. The third was anticlimactic.) It ended at 1am. So I was quite tired the next day at church. However, I had a really good time in spite of the late start. We were watching with people who were *really into* the match, and that always makes for a more fun environment. There were great snacks, and some fun conversations ahead of the fight. And the fight actually turned into something worth watching.

Back when I watched Bite Fight, it was pretty anticlimactic. We tuned in, and i about twenty minutes, it was over due to a DQ. Sure, it makes for a good story years later, but I remember being disappointed at the time. I wanted Rocky vs. Clubber Lang. I got Hannibal Lecter instead.

This one lived up to the hype, I felt. It went 10 rounds, and the early rounds looked quite good for McGregor. In the end, Mayweather had a great approach. (He pegged McGregor as not being prepared for a long match, since those don’t occur in MMA. He turned out to be right.) Some objected to the fight being called before McGregor was on the mat, but I felt like it was called at a good point. By then, the guy didn’t have his hands up to defend himself. He wasn’t throwing any counter punches. He was basically a semi-mobile punching bag.

He was done.

I’m still yawning from some sleep deprivation, but the experience delivered what I hoped. (I also realized I haven’t shown my kids any of the Rocky movies. I fail as a father.) Tomas had a good time, as well. If it hadn’t been so late, it would have been easily a great decision to go. As it was, I’d still give it an 8/10 for the experience. Would do it again.