You're right in that Conor was never going to win. But I think you are not giving him enough credit in the fight. Yes, Floyd could have pulled his typical dodge and duck game and he knew he didn't have to, but I don't think anyone goes into a boxing match with the thought of "letting" the other guy punch you 111 times, especially when you know that this guy does have knockout power. There were a few of those punches that looked like they legitimately hurt as well. I'm not trying to talk Conor up too much, it was always Mayweather's fight, but even Mayweather said that Conor was better than he thought.
And yes, Conor needs to defend those belts.
This is true,
Mcgregor did impress me and should get credit for how he performed in the first 4 rounds. He showed some great boxing skills and brought the fight to Mayweather
I just think Mayweather also played it smart because he get McGregor to throw a ton of punches. Hard to say whether this was his intentions or whether CM just surprised him. My own theory but I think if Mayweather played all out defense like he did in past fights, Mcgregor wouldnt have been "tricked" into going after him as he would have realized Mayweather was going into a shell and would have saved his energy. This would have made for a boring fight as CM wouldnt be on the aggressive and neither would Floyd
I think Mayweather put himself out there a bit and exposed himself in order to get McGregor punching (which CM did and did a great job, so Ill hand it to him). I actually got a bit worried in first 2 rounds because Mayweather was not looking all that good, he wasnt moving like he usually does. Whether it was old age, or whether it was a tactic to get McGregor throwing, it worked in the end. CM was gassed by the end there and no way he was making it the distance
Ill give props to both fighters tho, I think that ended up great. Waaaaay better than the Pac fight. Mcgregor just needs to go back to the UFC and dominate. I like him tremedonsouly more fighting MMA because he has so many tools