Define genuine boxing craft? No one questions his heart in that fight. Craft? Eh, I don't know. An as always careful and slow starting Mayweather clearly coasted those first rounds, then decided Conor had nothing for him and walked him down, basically walking through whatever (a fatigued, granted) Conor threw at him. He looked completely lost at times in there (which is completely normal btw, he's not a boxer).
He 'held his own' for a couple of rounds then gassed in the most terrible way. I will certainly admit he did better than I thought he would, but I also think this whole "look how many rounds he won!" narrative is way overblown. He looked halfway decent at the beginning then stumbled across the ring, getting slapped around by Floyd for most of the fight, until he got finished by a "pillow fisted old man". Let's not pretend a guy like Canelo couldn't put the Conor that showed up that night into a coma, very badly and very early.
He certainly made his money that night, while going out on his shield, so all and all he played this very smart.
