George Foreman: The referee protected Mayweather in one of the last rounds vs. McGregor
George Foreman gives his post-fight take on Mayweather vs. McGregor
The general assessment about the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor fight last August 26th was that McGregor did do a good enough job to win some of the early rounds before Floyd Jr. took over and finished the job at the tenth round. But that was not how two-time heavyweight world champion George Foreman saw it.
In his recent interview at the Obviously Fight Talk podcast, the boxing Hall-of-Famer even believes McGregor was able to hurt Mayweather with a body shot, until referee Richard Byrd intervened.
“The referee protected Mayweather in one of the last rounds,” Foreman said (transcript via MMA Fighting). (Conor) hurt him. “He had him hurt, and was going for the finish, and the referee stepped in for no reason at all and stopped it. It was a vicious body punch.”
“Conor had him with a good body shot and the referee saved him, but that's typical of a boxing match.”
Combat sports personalities like Oscar De La Hoya and Bob Arum, as well as media members, were not big fans of the mere idea of Mayweather vs. McGregor from the get-go, and were vocal about their disdain about it. But based on how the fight transpired, Foreman says apologies should actually be issued.
“Well, for the first time, I think all of the media should apologize for all the negative things they were saying about the fight,” Foreman said. “It’s probably…it’s going to be hard to top it. It could have been the fight of the year.”
“Not only did he surprise Floyd Mayweather, he surprised me and a whole host of experts, because McGregor hit Mayweather often, his defense didn't even work against Conor,” he added. “He had to come out and fight like an old boxing slugger, like George Foreman or something.”