2 reasons why Mayweather and McGregor are winners in my eyes

It is Sunday morning and I am on the train home after a very long day. Like many of you, I stayed up all night to watch the Mayweather and McGregor fight.

Some people were against it. They argued that this was a joke, why is one of the best boxers of all time fighting a UFC fighter that has never fought professionally?

Some were for it. They said that this was a battle between two great combat fighters in a quest to win ultimate bragging rights.

Now let’s be clear, this was Mayweather’s domain. If you placed Mayweather in an octagon with McGregor there would be no question about who the winner would be. However, like many of those who stayed up to watch this fight, I was intrigued by its unpredictability.

I had Mayweather to win, but I was interested to see how McGregor would do. He has never had a professional boxing fight, but has a great record of knocking people out in the UFC. Furthermore, given his UFC background he would have a very unorthodox boxing style.

McGregor had absolutely nothing to lose in this fight and pretty much had everything to gain. On the other hand, Mayweather had his legacy as “The Best Ever” to lose and also his undefeated record.

Regardless of the fact that Mayweather is 40 and McGregor is a fresh faced 29 year old, there would be no forgiveness if Mayweather did not win this fight convincingly. Thankfully he did.

One of the things that I loved in the build up to this fight was McGregor’s confidence. Call it delusion, but if you believe you have lost before you step into the ring of any challenge, you have already lost. This is foundational.

McGregor as a seasoned professional fighter was well aware of this. Confidence however, cannot overcome skill. And on Sunday morning we clearly saw that Mayweather’s experience, composure and skill reigned supreme.

So if Mayweather won the fight, why do I call them both winners?

1. Mayweather backs up his talk

There are many things about Mayweather’s outward behaviour that I haven’t liked over the years. He often shows arrogance, is overly flashy with money (he is called Money Mayweather for a reason) and he has also done some questionable things. However, at the end of the day, no one is perfect.

On the flip side, what I truly respect about him, is his ability to always back up his talk in the ring. There are some who talk the talk and there are some who actually walk it. Mayweather is most definitely a man who walks his talk.

His favourite tagline is hard work and dedication. In a world where people want things instantly, it takes tremendous hard work and dedication to rule the sport of boxing as Mayweather has done. He has built up a tremendous brand for himself, but beyond all this, Mayweather works his arse off and that’s why he is where he is today.

His work ethic is why he is undefeated and has beat 22 world champions along the way.

2. McGregor lost the fight with credibility

Like I said before, McGregor was the underdog in this fight and it was the unpredictability of it that made people tune in.

The fight got stopped in the 10th round, just 3 rounds before the final bell. But for someone fighting a man that some consider as the best ever, lasting that long is an accomplishment.

No one expected McGregor to truly give Mayweather the fight of his lifetime, but the variables in this fight managed to cause huge interest. This includes Mayweather’s age and inactivity and McGregor’s youth and mystery.

If this was a boxer against a boxer, everyone would have said that this was a complete mismatch, Mayweather just beat up a novice fighter and that 50-0 counts for nothing. However, in this case it was the mismatch that got everyone excited.

What would happen if Mayweather lost and McGregor overcame all odds? That was the question on everyone’s lips.

One thing that Dan Hardy said after the fight was that UFC is different. McGregor was not an undefeated fighter before this fight. He has lost 3 times before in the domain that he dominates, but it is not all about having that undefeated record.

The key thing that McGregor got from this fight, is the lesson learned from competing against someone as efficient and world class as Mayweather. This was invaluable experience he can take away to become an even better UFC fighter.

The perfect picture of Mayweather’s record is what we all often want in life. We don’t want to fail. We want to go through life with minimum losses if any. However, McGregor got paid extremely well to go out there and learn from the best in a completely different arena of life. He took a risk that allowed him to take his career to the next level.

He may have lost the fight, but McGregor will take this as ammo to go on and be an ever greater competitor.

It takes hard work and dedication to be great and it is often in temporary defeat that your most life changing lessons appear.

For these reasons, both Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor are winners in my eyes.