Finally, at long last, Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao happened. Chalk up a relatively easy win for the favored Mayweather, as he captured what amounts to a lopsided unanimous decision. My score was 116-112 and there were two coin flip rounds that I awarded to Pacquiao.
The fight went pretty much as I thought it would. There’s no mystery to what Floyd does. He’s a pure boxer, one of the best ever at controlling pace and distance. He punches enough to win rounds and defends superbly. This has been the game plan for Mayweather for 48 professional fights. If anyone was expecting anything different, they’re delusional.
Pacquiao earned his reputation as one of the most exciting fighters of all time by taking chances. He did almost none of that here. Sorry, but those complaining about Floyd not making things more exciting either haven’t watched him or just chose to ignore reality. The fighter who needed to gamble didn’t. So simply stated, those complaining about the lack of action are mostly pointing the finger of blame at the wrong guy.
Fact is, Manny stopped being Manny nearly three years ago, when he was on the wrong end of a vicious knockout courtesy of Juan Manuel Marquez. Sure, he was on a 3-0 run coming into this match. But that daring Pacquiao didn’t need to show up against Rios, Bradley or Algieri. And that version absolutely didn’t show up at the MGM Grand on this Saturday night.
Had this fight taken place when it SHOULD have, I believe we might have witnessed something amazing. That’s when every Manny Pacquiao fight was a must-see event. He was the most exciting pound for pound fighter on the planet. bar none. I still think Floyd would have defeated him, but I can almost guarantee we’d have seen a memorable spectacle.
But if you were expecting a thrilling brawl in May 2016, you’re in the wishful thinking category that probably didn’t see the Pacquiao KO loss to Marquez or any of his subsequent fights. That Pacquiao is gone for good.