Floyd himself said Conor was better than he anticipated, and many are taking Floyd's word as gospel here. Did you think Conor would win rounds and land that many punches? I didn't. I think it's pretty uncontroversial to say that among the vast majority of boxing fans, he did better than expected.
Floyd is basically always nice to his opponents after he's done with them. Most boxing fans anticipated that Floyd would show some ring rust, assess his man in the first few minutes, them tear him apart. Many also pointed out how Connor's stamina would be a factor. This side of Conor's chin holding on decently as he got tagged with Floyd's fragile hands, the way the fight unfolded was hardly a surprise to anyone knowing a bit about boxing.
On second thought Floyd's decision to stick to what he had said and walk McGregor down was also kind of unpredictable, while having little to do with Connor. It certainly helped Connor'd punching stats, the 111 shots he has landed were also due to Floyd's lack of respect for the power he felt early on.
A lot of the debate about whether if McGregor did better than expected or not has to do with all the MMA vs boxing rant. Putting it aside for a second :
- I think Floyd clearly showed he has dropped a notch. He's certainly well aware of it and won't fight anymore, as his edge over other quality 147 pounders is gone. To me the fight adds nothing to his mystique this side of the 50 and his ability to carry one hell of a 6-pack at 40 (I know what I'm talking about).
- I give credit to Connor for not coming out swinging like an idiot, having tried to box and not having taken an easy way out (DQ or quit), as I thought could happen when it would become clear that he was doomed.
- Connor has the boxing basics and athleticism. He can set a distance, use the jab, and mix up his offense a bit. It's not bad, while not leaps and bounds above expectations. He obviously wasn't as out of his element as the bareknuckle English dude that Bert Cooper smashed like a bug.
- However, his stamina issues, combined with his trouble sustaining a good defense over time (hands, footwork, head movement), his lack of boxing moving backwards, his obvious lack of skill in the boxing clich and his not-so-impressive punching power with bigger gloves make it very unlikely that he can beat a decent pro boxer at 154.
- These guys won't be rusty, have stamina and hit much harder than Floyd. So I sincerely hope Connor enjoys the money and goes back to the UFC. Of course, a Paulie fight would be different as the guy just can't punch, but I'm fairly sure a well-prepared Malignaggi would beat Connor 118-100 or so.
Just my honnest 2 cents, all flaming wars put aside.