Floyd Mayweather Wins Unanimous Decision Over Manny Pacquiao

The years long wait for the matchup of Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao finally came to an end on May 2nd, when the Fight of the Century (so far at least) finally happened and the two squared off at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Boxing fans had yearned for this bout between perhaps the two best fighters of their generation, but the two camps could not reach an agreement and it looked like they never would.  But then, after a chance meeting between the two at a Miami Heat basketball game in January, the sides reached an agreement.

So in front of a Per Per View audience so large it caused technical problems for carriers (resulting in a delay in the start of the fight) and an audience that paid thousands of dollars a ticket, the Big Event finally happened on Saturday night  May 2nd.  One of those in attendance was New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who had a busy day; before attending the fight at night, he had been at the Kentucky Derby in the afternoon.

The undefeated Mayweather stayed that way, winning by unanimous decision.  The judge’s scores were 118-110, 116-112, and 116-112.  In the NBA, those would be close scores but in boxing that’s a decisive win.  Mayweather was criticized by some for fighting in a defensive style, and apparently not just standing there while he and Pacquiao beat the crap out of each other.  It’s boxing, not street fighting.  Muhammad Ali moved around a lot too, but he would pick his spots and land his punches with devastating effect.  Mayweather landed 148 of 435 punches thrown (345) while Pacquiao was just 81 of 429 (19%).  Despite that, Pacquiao felt he should have won; his camp also declared that Manny had a shoulder injury but officials would not allow him to take an anti inflammatory shot for the injury.

For his part, Mayweather (48-0) was complimentary of Pacquiao (57-6-2) as an opponent.  Despite the huge popularity of the event (it is expected to be the largest Pay Per View event in history when the final numbers are in) a rematch is not likely.  Mayweather said he will fight once more in September, fulfilling a six fight commitment he has with Showtime, and then he’s done.   Mayweather, who is now the unified Welterweight champion with the victory, said he will vacate those titles so others can compete for them.  That sounds like he’s pretty serious about retiring, and why not;  he’s got plenty of money and there’s little left for him to accomplish in the ring.