Lets break this down as thoroughly as possible so you can begin to fully understand everything - the how and why etc. It really was impressive to see. I will also be adding in commentary about the fight. After reading this post you will be set: )
We see Floyd in a high guard
Conor probes his lead hand and touches Floyd's left glove up high to get Floyd to check it and open up his mid section
Not only was Conor range finding, found his range perfectly, hes keeping Floyd pre-occupied with his lead hand, using as a blinder or set up for what is to come (as mentioned earlier)
Touch, distract up high, get to check, shoot down low. That's what Conor does. Variations of that tactic is what Conor has always been about. Conor will play with the timing and rhythm of that, to mix it up and remain unpredictable/catch off guard.
Sometimes Conor will go "touch touch shoot"...sometimes it's "touch touch touch shoot"...sometimes it's just "touch shoot"
For example as in here against Holloway
Breakdown below. It's a MUST read. Please read it.
That's just amazing from Conor right there and shows how versatile Conor is and how hes always mixing things up to stay widley unreadable and unpredictable.
Against Holloway we saw "Touch, condition, touch, shoot on that off beat"
Against Floyd, we see Conor go "touch up high, open up and distract, then shoot down low on that off beat"
When ever you are out of position is when Conor will lead on that off beat, off his lead hand probes
And if you pre-maturely jump when Conor is probing you out with his lead hand, then Conor has already gotten the read on you from his lead hand radar system, and will time you and snuff you out
Anyway, off the lead hand probe distraction, Conor on the off beat drops the left straight down to Floyd's body. Conor is hoping to get Floyd to now drop his guard. Very smart. You can already see Conor displaying high level IQ.
The left straight to the body gets Floyd to tuck in even harder in an attempt to try to catch it off his sternum or forearms.
This leaves Floyd's sides completely exposed, and Conor quickly follows up with a right hook to the exposed side of the body. Again Conor showing high level fight IQ and winning the chess match over Floyd
Really just a sublime right hook to the body by Conor, off the lead hand touch up high distraction, to go down low to the opened up midsection after the check, to open up the side of the body
(For some reason MMA fan noobs who hate on Conor only seem to value head shots while ignoring some really CLEAN hooks and straights that Conor landed to Floyd's body. Just as an FYI to MMA Conor hating noobs, body shots are scored very very highly in boxing)
Now pay attention to this. Here it is again just from the point after the body shot
After the body shot, Conor pivots off his back foot sliding to his right to change the positioning.
Look how this screws up Floyd's timing on the right as he is now forced to slightly turn to Conor/align his right. Conor changing up the angle causes Floyd to hesitate before delivering the right. Conor slips it with ease
People who don't understand boxing won't be able to recognize and appreciate just how world class Conor's footwork is, how Conor is always stepping around opponents, and or stepping off/pivoting to change positioning/angles etc.
If you read my off topic quote (I encourage you to read them all) and you want to feel back on track, just to recap, Conor drops the body hook and pivots to change the positioning, forcing Floyd to hesitate/ turn to Conor with a right lead that Conor easily slips
Floyd is a crafty veteran though, so keep paying attention
SHIFTING
After Conor easily slips the right lead from Conor, Floyd off the miss simply steps into southpaw and tries to catch Conor off guard with a follow up left from southpaw stance, as Conor is coming back up from his slip
This was the superior reaction speed and superior countering of Conor on display when fresh
Conor remains planted, and comes up from his slip with a counter left to meet Floyd's southpaw left
Conor counters Floyd's southpaw left with his left....
It's a collision that violently jerks Floyd's head.
This counter shot literally jolts Floyd out of his shoes.
It was counters like that that kept Floyd tentative and timid until he saw Conor gas out
You can't look at that and logically tell me, that it was always in "Floyd's 'plans' all along to eat counters like that in order to 'carry' Conor" ...Conor haters don't know boxing...Conor haters are literally nut job conspiracy theorists.
Now Floyd has an even better chin then Nate Diaz.
But when you see Floyd jerked and bolted like that, he was rocked. Floyd was rocked right there. Look at his facial expression. The only thing that would have made it more obvious, would have been to see Floyd actually fall or get wobbly legged.
Absolutely beautiful counter left by Conor that legit rocked Foyd but yet for some reason, went on to get completely ignored, in favor of the uppercut...
In reality there were multiple shots you could chose from, that Conor landed, that visibly jerked Floyd's head...but of course haters only chose to focus on the uppercut and act like the uppercut was the only one
It was just a beautiful sequence showcasing Conor's legit world class boxing skill, IQ, and footwork, by even elite level boxing standards (when he is fresh).
Hope you enjoyed the read. It's long, but detailed. It covered a sequence in the fight that really did set the tone for the first half of the fight,
and represented what the first half of the fight was all about. Conor's length, lead hand game, fienting, jabs, speed, reflexes, countering giving Floyd MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR ISSUES
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/56382327/003_Floyd_Mayweather_vs_Conor_McGregor.0.jpg)
