Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor gave fans a fight to talk about before and after they settled things in the boxing ring at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Although not a complete sellout for the live show, many celebrities were in attendance. Cleveland Cavaliers stars from the NBA, LeBron James and J.R. Smith had seats in the house and chatted about the main event between Mayweather and McGregor following the fight. TMZ caught the two talking about the respect they had for Conor McGregor even after his 10th round TKO loss to the undefeated boxing great.
The following is the conversation James and Smith had immediately after the fight via TMZ:
LeBron: “You gotta respect [McGregor].”
J.R.: “You got to. The thing is he came out strong in the beginning of every round. He burnt himself out.”
LeBron: “You gotta respect him though because he ain’t no boxer. Tough as a motherf**ker though.”
J.R.: “Sh*t, give me $30 million! I’d be tough too! For 30 minutes?”
LeBron: “I’m dropping in the 1st round. I ain’t lasting 10.”
J.R.: “At all.”
James and Smith weren’t the only celebrities who were impressed by McGregor’s performance. Former heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson gave “The Notorious” an A for his performance.
“He did great,” said Tyson. “He got in and never did that before and he went 10 rounds. Never fought before. Golly. Listen, he got a big set of balls.”
“Iron” Mike Tyson added, “McGregor was better than I thought he was as a fighter.”
It seems the current UFC lightweight champion’s stock has gone up even in defeat. Now the question is, what’s next for Conor McGregor?
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 8/31/2017.