What will likely be remembered as the most profitable boxing match in pay-per-view history is over, but Saturday night’s match between Floyd Mayweather and Connor McGregor leaves no shortage of hot takes in its wake.
Mayweather will likely retire with a 50-0 record thanks to a technical knockout in the tenth round. However, there’s at least one fan who would’ve preferred if the referee didn’t stop Mayweather in the midst of delivering a flurry of punches to McGregor.
“I ain’t gonna lie, I just feel like the ref was racially profiling, man,” Sean “Diddy” Combs noted in his own postfight commentary via Instagram. “They should’ve let him knock that chump out, man…knock ‘em out the box, champ!”
Combs’ comments echoed quotes from McGregor after the fight about not wanting the ref to interfere, but McGregor eventually walked back those statements.
“I do feel it was a little bit early, but I respect his decision,” McGregor said during his post-fight presser. “I thought he done an amazing job. I thought he let the fight flow where it should’ve flowed.”
Naturally, Mayweather saw things differently.
“I hear him talking about, ‘Oh, you should’ve let me go out on my back or go out on my face,” Mayweather replied during his time at the post fight press conference. “No. The referee saved you, because the referee is thinking about your future. You’re still young, and we want you to be able to fight again someday.”
You can catch Mayweather and McGregor’s respective comments about the referee intervening at the 43:40 mark and 1:20:13 mark of the video above.
While Mayweather confirmed earlier reports he will now retire from professional boxing for good, his point about McGregor’s future is a valid one.
Connor McGregor reportedly pocketed a minimum of $30 million guaranteed for his work in the ring Saturday, and that doesn’t include endorsements and post-fight club appearances. If he can secure another $30 million purse, sacrificing the remainder of Saturday night’s tenth round sounds like a lucrative trade.
