The New York Times has been criticized by President Donald Trump for getting stories wrong, and now the newspaper of record strayed into completely different territory over the weekend by publishing an outright lie about the boxing match between Connor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather.
The newspaper sent a Tweet saying that “McGregor’s face was completely bloodied” in the 10th round. Anyone who has seen the footage of the fight would be hard-pressed to find even a spec of blood on McGregor’s face.
Twitter users quickly noticed the falsehood and pointed it out. New York Times deleted the Tweet and issued a correction saying instead that “McGregor’s face was red and swollen.
“I guess when you get accustomed to churning out articles filled with false assumptions, deceptive insinuations, smears and outright lies, it’s hard to force yourself to conform to reality,” James Barrett, a writer for the Daily Wire, said in a post about the error.
Two writers were covering the fight for the Times—John Eligon and Victor Mather.
In the original article titled “Mayweather vs. McGregor: Highlights From Every Round,” the authors wrote that “Mayweather backed McGregor onto the ropes with a series of rights and lefts. McGregor’s face was completely bloodied. He was about to fall through the ropes when the referee stepped in to stop the fight with 1:55 remaining in the round.”
Floyd Mayweather (L) and Jr. Conor McGregor battle in the sixth round of their super welterweight boxing match at T-Mobile Arena on August 26, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)“The Failing New York Times has deleted its tweet saying McGregor was bloodied and falling through the ropes last night #FakeNews loses again,” wrote Twitter user Bryan Connolly.
Sarah Palin sued New York Times for defamation in June over an editorial that linked her directly to a fatal mass shooting. The editorial writer in that case said in court that he did not read the newspaper’s own reporting on the event he referenced, which led to the error.
Mayweather scored a 10th round technical knockout against McGregor on Saturday, cementing his legacy as an all-time boxing great with his 50th win in as many fights.
Mayweather, who had guaranteed an early finish to the 12 round contest, made good on his promise when he pinned a brave-but-limited McGregor on the ropes and mercilessly hammered the Irishman before referee Robert Byrd stepped in to halt the bout.
The fight, which Mayweather insisted would be his last, sends the 40-year-old into his second retirement with a unblemished 50-0 record to surpass heavyweight legend Rocky Marciano’s 49-0 mark for most wins without a loss or draw.
Reuters contributed to this report.
From NTD.tv
