BoxingBase.com Live Mayweather vs Pacquiao Report – MGM Grand Arena, Las Vegas
On May 2nd, boxing’s biggest spectacle failed to live up to the hype. The ‘Fight of the Century’, indeed – or certainly for those whose boxing biz pockets were handsomely lined. Boxing fans had hoped the action would be more proportionate to the serious cash demanded from its home and Vegas audience.
The result: Floyd Mayweather left the MGM Grand Arena with a Unanimous Decision over Manny Pacquiao. Mayweather soundly out-boxed Pacquiao over the 12-round distance, receiving fair scores of 116-112 twice, and 118-110. BoxingBase.com had it at 118-110.
Following the bout, he defends his WBC, WBA Super and RING Welterweight titles, and also picks up Pacquiao’s WBO variety. It’s no secret that belts mean little to the pound for pound king, but he nonetheless now becomes the undisputed 147-pound champion (less credible titles aside).
Mayweather vs Pacquiao: The Fight
First off, Mayweather and Pacquiao deserve credit for putting on a hard fight. Yes, you heard it.
It was one-sided. And yes, it will be quickly forgotten (post-mauling in the Twitterverse). But both fighters came to win, and both did what they usually do (see Pacquiao’s shoulder injury revelation – unknown during this report). Mayweather implemented his counter-and-move tactics perfectly, and Pacquiao applied effective pressure – or as much as Mayweather allowed due to his manipulation of distance.
It just so happens that styles don’t always make fights. At least not those involving Mayweather. Love him or hate him, the guy always finds a way to win. And that’s just what he did in this uncompetitive encounter.
The self-proclaimed ‘Best Ever’ bagged arguably 9-10 rounds. It was thanks to a smart game plan which involved keeping his man thinking by using hard, sharp right-hand counters, and also nullifying his foe’s offense through distance control. Not mesmerizing, sure. But what Mayweather fight since that with Ricky Hatton in 2007 has been?
There was a bit of holding/pushing down from Mayweather at times, but not enough for referee Kenny Bayless to exercise a point deduction.
Of course, Pacquiao did have his moments, too. A top-tier boxer himself, he was able to find Mayweather’s chin with some hard shots on occasion. The only problem was that they were mostly of the singular variety – never enough to put Mayweather down or out.
In the 3rd round, however, he did tag Mayweather with a hard straight that forced ‘Money’ to retreat into the ropes. Pacquiao then launched a tasty combination of 8-10 punches to the head and body. But ‘Money’ weathered the storm well, left the ropes, got back to work, and never really found himself in any more notable sticky situations in the fight. It was the last time Pacquiao would unleash a successful flurrying attack.
Mayweather vs Pacquiao: Boxing Boost or Blow?
Following the final bell, the whole Mayweather vs Pacquiao ‘mega fight’ seemed remarkably anticlimactic. It could never live up to the hype, true. But given there was no major action, no knockdowns, no buckling legs, controversy, it made the whole thing just a little blugh… Or in English: underwhelming.
Thirty-six minutes of no real drama had been witnessed, and now it was over. Just like that.
And to add to the empty feeling felt in most fight fans’ stomachs, Pacquiao was ungracious in defeat – something we’re not accustomed to seeing. In a bizarre post fight interview with HBO’s Max Kellerman, ‘Pacman’ stated he felt he’d won the fight. It was true that Mayweather did his fair share of running, but he also put in the better work, landed the more telling, scoring punches, and in short, did what he does best.
This wasn’t one of those hard to call fights like Danny Garcia vs Lamont Peterson or Saul Alvarez vs Erislandy Lara. Pacquiao was not robbed by the judges. Period.
If you haven’t yet caught the fight, you can catch highlights in SHOWTIME’s final episode of Inside Mayweather vs Pacquiao. A condensed version is certainly more palatable.
So what now for the fight game? Has Mayweather vs Pacquiao been good or damaging for boxing? It’s a darn good question, and makes you wonder whether the world would have been better off having never been treated/subjected to the affair at all.
And a few more questions to mull over…
What’s next for both fighters? And how much will this match up impact on their legacies? Perhaps not too much at all, given both men are headed into the Boxing Hall of Fame on roller skates. And finally – for what it’s worth – would the outcome have differed if it had taken place 4-5 years ago (when Pacquiao was in true beast mode)?
Fire away in the comments!
The BoxingBase.com writing staff provide worldwide boxing news, coverage and analysis – they can be contacted via email and social media.
