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1. Life Has Been One Big Fight For Macbeth

The contest, fuelled by hype and drawing so much interest that it is likely to break all pay-per-view records and gross upwards of $600 million, proved to be a compelling contest in the end. It was once again mastered by Mayweather, who, as he worked out McGregor's unusual movement, decided to throw so few punches for the first three rounds that the Irishman took them cleanly. Mayweather, normally defensive strategist, waited until the tenth minute of the fight to display the gulf in class between himself and the Irish star of the UFC, who was forced, for one night, to eschew the use of elbows, knees, shin bones and feet for what the 29 year old had deemed 'just a quarter of a fight'.

Yet noble art it is, boxing, and 40-year-old Mayweather, fighting for the first time in 714 days, insisted post-fight that he will never fight again, ending his 21-year career in some style, controlling an all-action fight that at times thrilled the 14,623 fans in attendance and in the 225 countries it aired live. Mayweather had promised a knockout victory, and in walking McGregor down from round four onwards, the old champion of five weight divisions attacked the body first before a strong assault to the popular Irishman's head in the ninth and tenth rounds, forcing referee Robert Byrd to halt the super welterweight fight at 1:05 of the 10th round. The three judges - Americans Dave Moretti (87-83), Burt Clements (89-82) and Italian Guido Cavalleri (89-81) - had Mayweather ahead on the scorecards at the time of the stoppage, though the Telegraph had Mayweather just in front at 86-85, yet growing increasingly dominant in the bout. By the tenth round, Mayweather was punishing McGregor, weighing almost 20 pounds more than the American, with a series of blows that staggered the increasingly fatigued fighter. Mayweather was lethally accurate in that final round, landing 20 of 26 power punches before the referee stopped the fight.

McGregor had a 51-40 advantage in punches landed over the first five rounds but was out-landed 130 to 60 from rounds six to 10, as Mayweather began to pop-shot the overwhelmed Irishman. McGregor had shown the confidence to come from another sport, a striker with a reputation for knocking out opponents within hands and feet, and, for a time at least, he caused Mayweather a few problems in early exchanges, in which the elite boxer's fighting IQ was clearly being exercised. Before the fight McGregor said he would KO Mayweather inside four rounds; afterwards he expressed dismay that Byrd had stopped the fight prematurely. “He’s a hell of a fighter standing up — he kind of shocked me,” Mayweather said of McGregor, the early aggressor. 'Our game plan was to take our time, let him shoot all these heavy shots, keep walking him down, keep walking him down, shoot heavy shots to the body, shoot big shots upstairs. My dad thought it was going to go a little bit earlier around the seventh or the sixth, but it took us a little longer than expected, but we did what we said we were going to do.' 'I think we gave the fans what they wanted to see,' Mayweather said after the fight.

'I owed them for the Pacquiao fight. I had to come straight ahead and give the fans a show. That's what I gave them.' 'Rocky Marciano is a legend and I look forward to going into the Hall of Fame one day,' said Mayweather. 'This was my last fight. I chose the right dance partner to dance with.

Life Has Been One Big Fight For Macbeth

Conor, you are a hell of a champion.' McGregor said he would consider boxing again, and would also return to fight in the UFC. 'I've been strangled on live TV and come back,' joked McGregor in reference to his submission loss tho American Nate Diaz in the UFC. 'When you're in here in the squared circle, everything is different. Let the man put me down, that's fatigue, that's not damage. Where was the final two rounds? Let me walk back to my corner and compose myself.'

The experiment worked. Two huge stars from different ends of the combat sports coming together for Mayweather's last fight. But once is enough.

Our round-by-round verdict Here's our boxing correspondent Gareth A Davies's round-by-round verdict, with scores for each round from our panel of guest judges: Gareth, former boxer Darren Barker and senior writer from Ring magazine Mike Coppinger. Round 1 Very smart round by McGregor, excellent attacks, pawing with the left, relaxed and letting his hands go. Showboating for confidence. Floyd can't get in. Round 10 And it's over. Hard concussive, accurate punches rain in from Mayweather who is hurting McGregor who stumbles across the ring and into the ropes from a right hand, off balance, and is close to going down. The attack continues.

McGregor's head is torqued across his shoulders. This is nasty dominance now and Mayweather looks the great boxer and McGregor the MMA fighter. Brilliant, valiant effort by McGregor. After two lefts on the ropes, referee Robert Byrd has seen enough, protects McG and waves it off.