FLOYD MAYWEATHER JR. did everything right on Sunday (Saturday in Las Vegas) to defeat Manny Pacquiao.
He hit and run.
He hugged and run.
He held and run.
Nothing new there. He had been famously employing those in his 17 years or so as a pro. Not one in 48 fights had failed him.
Pacquiao did just one mistake to absorb his sixth loss in 65 fights.
He fought with just one good hand.
Fighting Mayweather with two healthy hands is already a monumental challenge. So, why the hell would a one-armed wannabe even try to go into a fight against someone used to using running as his bread and butter?
Even Chris Algieri might have exacted revenge on Pacman if he were Pacquiao’s foe that fateful day.
Isn’t Mayweather the best fighter on the planet today, that’s why he was waving an unbeaten 47-0 record before he faced Pacquiao (57-5-2)?
He was Mayweather the Goliath versus Pacquiao the David, yes, but, this time, fiction gave in to fact. Pacquiao had pictured himself the fictional David.
But, alas, David dueled Goliath minus his slingshot that was as equally lethal as his right arm that is now, sadly, limp as Ling Nam noodle on an imaginary sling. Suicide.
Pacquiao cried foul after he lost.
But that loss was his second already, the first being his decision to climb the ring having only one healthy hand.
He accused Nevada boxing officials of two things: 1) They denied his request to have his right shoulder injected with painkillers before the fight; 2) They disallowed him to drink his Red Bull energy drink and Pharmaton vitamins.
Officials defended their action by saying Pacquiao’s camp did not comply with proper paperwork on the injection issue. On his drink and vitamins, they were silent; on that, they deserve condemnation.
Pacquiao said his jetski-triggered 2009 shoulder injury reoccurred three weeks before the fight.
He said he thought of postponing the fight. He next vacillated, arguing he felt the injury could improve, if not totally heal, on May 3 (Philippine time).
Apparently, it did not, otherwise he would not have requested for numb-making injections hours before fight time.
“I was thinking of the fans, that’s why I junked the postponement,” Pacquiao said after the fight.
Let’s believe he fought injured, otherwise we might be forced to doubt his avowed religiosity.
But if we could not believe that he lost to Mayweather, then truth has lost its true meaning, if not power. We could now even believe that martial law had done this country good.
And so, what now, my love?
No, it was not the fight of the century. If you say otherwise, that’s like saying Jesus Christ didn’t walk on water.
It wasn’t even the fight of the decade. Neither was it the fight of the year, nor the fight of the month.
What else? Not the fight of the week?
Even that would be inappropriate a tag.
By any yardstick, it was but only your everyday fare. Run of the mill. Business-like. Another day in the office. All, because Mayweather did not only dictate the tempo of the fight. He owned the fight. And next laughed his way to the bank clutching a $100-million check.
Mayweather did his usual dancing even without his Fred Astaire/John Travolta shoes on in scoring a lopsided unanimous-decision victory.
Pacquiao didn’t deliver the promised goods, failing to knock Mayweather out. Of course. He was damaged goods.
He was not the one-armed swordsman in that movie of ages ago, who won and won and won. Film is fiction, boxing fact.
Thus, there was no knockdown.
Not one of the boxers’ four knees even buckled.
The two most famous faces on TV that day remained unmarked after 36 minutes of drudgery at its best.
It was the richest fight of the century, yes.
It was the richest fight of all time, yes.
But to call it the fight of the century was to desecrate the Thrilla in Manila, which was, and still is, the real fight of the century, of all time.
Now, if we transform the Pacquiao-Mayweather bout from fight of the century to fake of the century, no objection, your honor.
It’s more like it, anyway.
THAT’S IT. A friend of mine texted me this right after Sunday’s Super Stinker: “Let’s all move on. Let’s make Pacquiao’s next fight happen in Manila. Didn’t MVP (Manny V. Pangilinan) himself announce he would support a Pacquiao fight in Manila? Let’s all support MVP on this.” Well, why not? Maybe, make Pacquiao’s next fight as his tune-up before his rematch with Mayweather? For his country, I’m almost sure Pacman will settle for $20 million just to have that bout held here. And for MVP, that amount would just be chicken feed.