Conor McGregor may not have defeated Floyd Mayweather, but he did receive high praise from an all-time boxing legend.
Sugar Ray Leonard, who won world titles in five different weight classes, was a part of the broadcast team for the Mayweather vs. McGregor prelim card on FOX and praised McGregor for his toughness and ability to keep Mayweather guessing and idle for the first few rounds of the fight.
"McGregor surprised me. He impressed me being able to utilize his own style to keep Mayweather off balance for a few rounds. It was amazing, but what happened is all of a sudden, around the seventh round, [McGregor] ran out of gas," Leonard said.
Speaking of the early portions of the fight, Leonard said he was impressed with McGregor's use of the jab against the defensive-minded Mayweather.
"That too was impressive and the fact that he used the jab, and being a southpaw is difficult. He did some things a normal guy wouldn't do. I tell you what, he was tough," Leonard said.
In the end, McGregor was stopped in the 10th round of the fight when McGregor kept getting hit square in the jaw until the referee had to stop the fight. It was McGregor's pro boxing debut but had to contend with a future Hall of Famer in Mayweather.
Leonard's comments could be seen in the video above.
