CONOR MCGREGOR had Floyd Mayweather beat in round and eight and was robbed by the referee in what could become Fight of the Year, according to George Foreman.
The heavyweight boxing legend somehow believes the Irishman was on the cusp of beating the Money Man when Robert Byrd interfered to save the American.
Despite the UFC star looking out of breath from the third and Mayweather pummelling for rounds nine and ten – when he had tried to bet on himself to win – Foreman thinks McGregor had it won.
The grill king wants all the newspapers and pundits who doubted the Irishman to publicly apologise after he played his part in what Foreman feels could the best boxing battle of 2017.
Speaking to Obviously Fight Talk, Foreman said: “I think all of the media should apologise for all the negative things that was said about the fight.
“It’s going to be hard to top it. It could have been the fight of the year.”
“Not only did he surprise Floyd Mayweather, he surprised me and a whole host of experts, because McGregor hit Mayweather often.
“Mayweather’s defence didn’t even work against Conor. He had to come out and fight like an old boxing slugger – like George Foreman or something.
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“This was my first exposure to him as a boxer. We’d seen some occasions where he’d gone in as an MMA fighter, which was pretty impressive, but I had no idea that he’d be able to carry a boxing match.
“This guy went on even further. He could have done 12 rounds, but he just got tired.”
“Yes, I was, as a matter of fact the referee protected Mayweather in one of the last rounds.
“Conor hurt him. He had him hurt, and was going for the finish, and the referee stepped in for no reason at all and stopped it.
“It was a vicious body punch. Conor had him with a good body shot and the referee saved him, but that’s typical of a boxing match.”
Foreman did speak more sense when asked about current IBF and WBA heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua following his stunning win over Wladimir Klitschko
AJ now faces Kubret Pulev in October in a mandatory title defence and is then focussed on unifying the division with WBC boss Deontay Wilder in his sights.
Foreman said: “What a heavyweight fight Anthony Joshua and Klitschko put on. An exciting night for boxing. It was something exciting. It had me on the edge of the seat.
"There's a guy in the United States, they call him Wilder. Wilder is good, and once these two guys fight and meet in the middle of the ring, the world will come knocking again as they did for Conor McGregor.
"Anthony Joshua is something from the past. He's good for the present and he's going to be spectacular for the future. Joshua, oh, yes, he's a fighter. He's a good one.”
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