Hall of fame boxing commentator, Steve Farhood, has been ringside for some of the biggest events in the history of the sport. Most recently, Steve was the unofficial scorer for Mayweather vs. McGregor, having the bout scored 86-85 for Mayweather after nine rounds. The event became the second highest grossing PPV of all time and was a commercial success that earned Mayweather another $100 million dollar payday.
In part 2 of my “On The Ropes” boxing radio interview with Steve Farhood, I get him to reflect on the Mayweather vs. McGregor event. Steve talks about the event promotion and shares his thoughts on the actual fight. Farhood also speaks on Mayweather’s performance and Conor McGregor’s boxing ability. Additionally, Steve gives his thoughts on Mayweather coming back and talks about how Floyd would do with today’s elite. Here is what Steve Farhood had to say.
Jenna J: Steve, it’s been a few months since Mayweather vs. McGregor took place. What did you think of that whole event?
Steve Farhood: As an event it was different, it was unique. As a fight, when expectations are low in terms of competitiveness and then you get something mildly competitive, we all rate the fight a little higher than we would have otherwise. Going in, I felt that McGregor having no boxing background, it would be an insult to boxing if he did well, it would give the impression that any world clas athlete can box, which of course is not true.
I think Mayweather’s strategy and style in the fight — especially in the first three round — lent an impression that McGregor was in the fight more than he was. Mayweather was smart, he let McGregor work and poop himself out, he was dead after four rounds. Mayweather as a result just covered up and let McGregor punch and sure enough after four rounds it was all Mayweather.
It was a strategy that was a little unusual for Floyd, and that was compounded by the fact that we saw Floyd attacking so aggressively, which is also very unusual of him. Floyd did fight a really smart fight and because of the style and strategy that he had, it made McGregor a little bit more competitive than he really was.
Jenna J: Do you believe like most people that Mayweather intentionally gave away those first three rounds, or do you think he was a little bit rusty to start?
Steve Farhood: It was a combination. Floyd got hit flush and his head got snapped back, and to have that happen against McGregor was a little startling. I do think it was a strategy to give away the rounds and let McGregor tire himself out, and it worked to perfection. Not only is Floyd brilliant in terms of his technique and everything else, but he’s always been a very smart fighter as well, and that was evident on August 26th.
Jenna J: Do you think McGregor was better than most people thought he was?
Steve Farhood: In some way better. In one way I was very disappointed in McGregor, he was a guy whose reputation was that he was this big left handed puncher with all these knockouts in MMA standing up, and I saw almost no power in his punches, I was really surprised by that. Was it because he was wearing heavier gloves than he’s used to? I don’t know, but the one aspect of McGregors game that I was surprised at was his lack of power.
Conor did hit Floyd flush a few times and nothing happened, and remember that he had a 15-20lb advantage in the ring as well, so I was surprised by that. Otherwise, he’s a high energy tough guy with a championship mentality, and none of that surprised me, some of that manifested itself in some ways early in the fight to McGregor’s favor, but ultimately he couldn’t do it for twelve rounds.
Jenna J: People wonder if Floyd Mayweather will return for another pay day or if this was the last one. What do you think?
Steve Farhood: It’s a tug of war. There are going to be parts of Floyd’s head that say, “I need this,” and it’s not the money so much, it’s the attention. Very often when Floyd isn’t fighting, we hear something come out on the internet about him and it’s as if he needs the attention — which of course he does, that’s been his life for more than twenty years.
I think he’s in an unusual position and I say that because the average fighter would kill for a $30 million dollar pay day, that’s money that Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter or Terence Crawford could very well never see, but for Floyd, a $30 million dollar pay day just doesn’t turn him on. The McGregor fight was perfect for him because he was basically against a guy who had never fought before and he was handed somewhere between $100 and $200 million dollars. That’s not going to happen against any boxer we know.
Floyd is not going to fight Golovkin, nor do I think he should, Golovkin is way too big. I don’t see Floyd coming back again, but if he does it will only be because he needs the attention and I just can’t see a run of the mill $30 million dollar pay day turning him on.
Jenna J: If you take the money aspect out, from an athletic standpoint, do you still think he can beat the top guys at welterweight or do you think he struggles?
Steve Farhood: I think he probably struggles against the very best, against Keith Thurman, Terence Crawford or Errol Spence. I don’t think it’s as easy as it used to be. Floyd is a fighter who relies a lot on reflexes and on his athletic ability, and just a very small diminishment in his skills could really affect him. We saw with Oscar De La Hoya and Roy Jones, when these fighters who are superior athletes lose that half second of timing, it can bode very badly for them.
I think we may be at that point with Mayweather — it’s a little difficult to tell strictly from the McGregor fight, but he is forty and there’s nothing to say that he couldn’t lose that half second in reflex time, and I think there’s a good chance that that’s happened.
fuck you steve! I did struggle against manny. it would be an easier task to fight these motherfucking greats you are talking about you motherfucker.
Mayweather lost against Pacquiao. With biased media and judges ghe fight was fixed.
MAYWEATHER LOST TO PACMAN PERIOD. VERY CLEAR. JUDGES AND REFEREE ARE SACAM PERIOD
MR STEVE PLEASE BE HONEST. MAYWEATHER WAS TOTALLY MAFIA. PACMAN WON AGAINST MAYWEATHE.LOOK THE REPLAY PLEASE. FULL OF MAFIA.
REMEMBER PACMAN WON AGAINST BRADLEY FIGHT (FIGHT 1), PACMAN WON AGAINST HORN (FULL OF MAFIA AND SET UP) AND PACMAN VS MARQUEZ 1 (3 KNOCKDOWN REMEMBER) HIS ORIGINAL RECORD IS 60WINS 4 LOSSES AND 38 KO’S
ALSO HE WON AGAINST MAYWEATHER. CORRECTION PLEASE HIS RECORD 61WINS, 3 LOSSES AND 38 KOS. 8 WEIGHT DIVISION RECORD FROM FLYWEIGHT, SUPER BANTAMWEIGHT, FEATHERWEIGHT, SUPER FEATHERWEIGHT, LIGHTWEIGHT, SUPER LIGHTWEIGHT, WELTERWEIGHT AND SUPER WELTERWEIGHT. TECHNICALLY SPEAKING HE IS MORE BETTER THAN MAFIA MAYWEATHER. PACMAN IS GREATER THAN ALI, DURAN, SUGAR RAY LEAONARD AND OTHERS GREAT. ONLY ONE RARE BREAD IN THE HISTORY IN BOXING. COME FROM ASIA, THE PHILIPPINES.
MAYWEATHER RECORD 50-0 IS GARBAGE AND FULL OF SCAM. REMEMBER HE LOST TO CASTILLO IN THE FIRST FIGHT, HE LOST TO DELA HOYA AND HE LOST TO PACMAN. HIS TRUE RECORD WITHOUT MAFIA (JUDGES AND REFEREE) 47 WINS AND 3 LOSSES
He would lose. 40 years old and has pretty much been in retirement. In his prime Spence would give him a rough fight and Crawford would put up a respectable performance.
I think Spence gives Floyd the most trouble because he’s a skilled pressure fighter that can box. And over time he would wear Floyd down. However Thurman and Crawford could be lulled into a technical fight and Floyd is a superior technical fighter, even at the age of 40. I’m not saying he’d definitely win but I think it would be extremely competitive.
As he touches on at the end, the McGregor fight is not a good gauge at all to be judging how much he has left but in saying that Crawford and Spence would both be really tough fights for him at age 40.
With the McGregor ‘training camp’ under his belt now though if he fought very soon I still think he beats guys like DSG, Thurman, Brook, etc.. And also think he beats all the current crop of welters in his prime.
They recently posted a thing on the Mayweather Boxing Channel on Youtube with Jeff interviewing the gym and pretty much everyone was just like leave the guy alone you only want him to come back to lose.
When you look at his dominance over such a long period of time, it’s pretty special. He had an amazing career.
Is Mayweather not retired?! When the man fought people complained that he was old, boring, and needed to retire. Now that he’s gone, they can’t stop talking about him taking on current fighters! Please, let’s talk Spence vs Thurman, Crawford vs Horn, Garcia vs anyone dangerous for a change…lol. What if Erickson Lubin came down to 147? No more Money May talk, let him enjoy retirement, heck 50-0 and a all-time great!
Currently gets dominated vs all of them
Beats all of them in his prime
Steve Farhood stating the bleeding obvious.
Of course he took the biggest fight available that would generate him the most money.
Of course he only took it because it represented absolutely zero risk. If it had been that kind of money but against a solid boxer he’d have actually had to get motivated for and train hard for, (i.e Pacquiao rematch) he may not have taken it. Too much like hard work.
This was a fight he could take and basically still keep one foot in retirement the whole time.
Of course those guys give Floyd a tough fight. The man is 40.
I don’t see any of them troubling Floyd in his prime though
He’s heading toward 41 years old and is way past his prime so you’d hope that he’d struggle with today’s best fighters.
He’ll be 41 very shortly, and of course he would struggle with the top guys @ 147. I still say he can beat Thurman, but Spence and Crawford? Hell Naw!
Yeah at 40 and retired, he would struggle or lose. So what? – Mayweather 5 years ago would have made them all look basic. Honestly, even now i wouldn’t be surprised if he beat them. He wouldn’t be fighting like he did v McGregor.
Here’s one. Deontay Wilder would beat the current version of Evander Holyfield….
What a non-story. Do these guys really get paid to write these articles? i think i need to get into this game.
Floyd would have lost to Crawford and struggled with Spence even at his welterweight best. 8 years with no knockouts is a pretty telling stat.
To be honest, the only one I would see him struggling with is Crawford for sure. Crawford’s IQ would be the difference. He’s not on prime Mayweather’s level but at their current stage and ages he would be sharper mentally. Spence would be a tough fight because of his pressure style but it would depend on how Mayweather approached the fight. If he still has his legs and can still move I can see him playing keep away for 12 rounds. Thurman would be the least likely to cause him any issues. I think Thurman has shown some regression since he first came on as a hungry fighter. He would be too slow to bother Mayweather even at this stage.
I still think people are reading too much into the McGregor fight. That version of Mayweather wouldn’t show up against any of these fighters and that version would’ve lost to Victor Ortiz!!
Prime Mayweather beats them all easily. It’s a testament to his greatness that even now people won’t outright say these guys would beat him. They all have a lot of work to do before we should even compare them to a legend like Mayweather. Let see all these guys fight each other so we can get a clear #1 at 147 first.
Floyd’s a legend who is old and retired.
Those fighters need to focus on facing each other in order to create their own legend.
PACQUIAO would get destroyed by SPENCE,CRAWFORD or THURMAN!! Let’s see him fight one of them. He’s still an active fighter and he’s a few years YOUNGER than FLOYD! I suddenly hear crickets.Lmao!!
Mayweather finds away to beat them all.. spence poses a problem but money took care of him in some very aggressive sparring for the pacquiao fight. (TMT)
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