It was billed as the ‘fight of the century’, hyped to the skies, and featured the two best boxers of this generation- yet Mayweather-Pacquiao turned into a disappointment for the myriad of fans who witnessed the bout.
It was always going to be this way. Floyd is perhaps the best defensive fighter ever; but fans went in expecting an explosive slugfest anyway. What they got instead was a master class in defensive and counter attacking boxing from Floyd.
The undefeated American picked up the unanimous points victory, the judges scoring it 118-110, 116-112, 116-112 for Mayweaher, who improved his record to 48 wins with no losses.
Manny Pacquiao thought he had won the fight, as did most of his fans. He was the aggressor throughout, trying to make a fight of it whilst Mayweather danced around.
“It’s a good fight, I thought I won. He didn’t do nothing, just moved outside” Pacquiao said after the bout.
In reality Mayweather did plenty. Obviously aware of the power and ferocity of Pacquiao, he moved around fluidly, never directly engaging the Filipino. His high shoulder defence useless against Pacquiao’s southpaw stance, he used his right jab frequently as a means of maintaining distance.
Pacquiao caught Mayweather with hard rights in a couple of rounds, both times rattling the champion. Mayweather, however, remained resolute- intent on his defensive stance, evading all punches whilst getting in enough counter punches to win round-by-round.
It was the quintessential Mayweather performance, and the only surprise was that Pacquiao was baffled by it, and the subsequent decision.
Mayweather wouldn’t care a hoot. He raised his hands at the final bell, knowing very well he had done enough to pick up the decision. He celebrated, threw taunts at some of the booing fans, but still maintained a huge level of respect for a worthy adversary.
“He’s a hell of a fighter, now I see why he’s one of the guys at the pinnacle of boxing.
He had moments in the fight but I kept him on the outside. I was a smart fighter, I out-boxed him”
The judges agreed- and that’s why Floyd, despite many detractors, would go on winning and retire as one of the greatest ever to put on a pair of gloves.
He understands the art of winning like few ever does.
