LAS VEGAS—Once again, there was no arguing Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s ability to both show perfection in the sweet science and impress judges.
Mayweather won the fight of the century, which many will feel was closer to the bore of the century.
According to the three judges, it wasn’t even close. The scores were 118-110 and two 116-112 cards.
Mayweather summed up the fight simply.
“I outboxed him,” he said.
Uncharacteristically, Pacquiao disagreed with the decision.
“I thought I hit him many more times than he hit me,” Pacquiao said. “He never hurt me.”
The victory kept Mayweather’s record unbeaten at 48-0. Pacquiao is now 57-6-2.
The first three rounds were more interesting than exciting. Pacquiao pursued, Mayweather countered and ducked and ran and held.
But in the fourth, Pacquiao’s relentless attack clearly won a round.
And after taking a round off in the fifth, Pacquiao continued his relentless attack and appeared to go up, four rounds to two.
The fans oohed and ahhed with every lunge, but most of them were producing little damage on Mayweather.
The Pac Attack was back in the eighth, but Mayweather remained mostly unhittable, as he has most of his career. And this was often the stage of the fight where Mayweather takes over a tiring opponent.
But in the ninth, Pacquiao kept coming and Mayweather kept countering. Fans seeking blood and guts were getting the sweet science from two of the sweeter practitioners and eventually, if it stayed this way, it would add up to a boring fight.
It appeared to be possible that the 12th round would decide it, but then the 12th round appeared to be dead even. A frustrated Pacquiao chased a classic defensive star, who countered beautifully. So, it was left to the three judges, which is exactly what the sellout crowd of 16,700 and the millions watching at home did not want to see.
While the crowd and the boxers awaited the decision, both took to the ropes to cheer the crowd and celebrate what they thought was a victory.
Only Mayweather was correct, even though Pacquiao said afterward he still thought he won.
No matter how big the event, boxing could not put it on without some of the usual foolishness. It remains a sport run by nobody and everybody.
And with a fight of this magnitude, which was put together by dozens of different entities and interests in only a few months, there was certain to be a mess somewhere.
That turned out to be a late run on the cable providers who were carrying the fight on pay per view, at $90 and $100, depending on whether you ordered it in high definition.
Well, shortly after the pay-per-view show went on Time Warner Cable, Dish Network and Charter, the Internet lit up with people complaining that they weren’t getting anything but black screens or messages saying that the program would be available soon. It wasn’t.
It turned out that there had been such a run on pay-per-view buys in the hours before the fight that the cable providers were shut down, at least temporarily.
So boxing did what it will always do. It left the 16,700 fans in the stands, who had paid between $1,500 and $300,000 for tickets, to stew. No announcement. Just lots of people standing around, in the ring and in the stands.
One TV executive on site was asked why the cable companies, with the promotion’s nudging, hadn’t set a deadline for ordering the fight and advertised that freely, avoiding the late logjam.
“That’s a good idea,” he said. Bill Dwyre
Image credits: (AP Photo/John Locher)
1 comment
Biggest fight of the Century? I say its the biggest SCAM of the Century! Pacman didn’t throw lots of punches as what he’s known from the start. I oftentimes see them talking at the middle of the fight where Pac nods his head to Floyd. I won’t be surprised if there will be a rematch wherein Pacquiao will win and another match as DRAW. THEY’RE GONNA EARN SO MUCH and they will BOTH RETIRE. It has been orchestrated from the beginning even their so-called serendipitous appearance at the Heat-Bucks game.