It started a little later than expected, and Conor might have put up a better show than many expected, but in the end Floyd and his experience won out.

The now 50-0 boxer hasn’t been bothered about knockouts for years, preferring to wear his opponent down and win on the scorecard. It was clear that he was keen to let Conor tire himself out by throwing the big punches in the earlier rounds, something he stressed in his post-match interview, and fans of the Irish UFC champion would have been buoyed by the blows he landed early on.

Almost right out of the gate he struck Floyd with a powerful uppercut, something that many experienced boxers have never managed to land:

But then, as we knew he would, Mayweather summed up the situation and made the necessary adjustments.

Via Quartz:

After McGregor’s excellent first three rounds (in which Mayweather had also established that McGregor wasn’t going to be able to seriously hurt him with his punches), Mayweather switched his style and the fight changed dramatically. He started to keep his hands up and come forward. “I turned him into a Mexican tonight,” McGregor said, smiling, after the fight. “He fought like a Mexican.” (Nothing racist about this. What he meant was that Mayweather fought aggressively with no fear, taking a punch to give a punch, like Mexican boxers are reputed to do.)

By the ninth round, McGregor was exhausted and eating shots.

In the end, it was the intensity and duration of a boxing match that really got to McGregor. Mayweather had 39 fights under his belt by the time that McGregor decided to put down his wrench, give up plumbing, and turn to mixed-martial arts in 2013. That experience really showed as the fatigue set in.

In the 10th, it was over.

A few pics, via Business Insider, showing how things progressed:

And that was all she wrote.

Here are the full highlights – keep an eye on the round counter in the bottom right corner, because when that ticks over to nine it all starts coming apart for the Irishman:

[sources:quartz&businsider]