The MGM Grand was filled to capacity Saturday, May 2, in hopes of seeing possibly the greatest boxing match in recent memory.
Whether they received that or not has yet to be determined.
Over $400 million dollars in revenue was brought in over the five years of build-up for a fight that was dubbed “MayPac.”
With tickets eventually ending up somewhere in the $6, 000 range and even with celebrities Sean “Diddy” Combs and Mark Wahlberg placing a $250,000 bet in which Wahlberg lost.
Floyd Mayweather would go on to defeat Manny Pacquiao on this night by unanimous decision, to the dismay of many fans.
“They were fighting like amateurs. It looked like they were fighting for points, because at the end of the fight, nobody had a bruise on their face,” said Cerritos student Jawann Garnett.
Mayweather’s win unified the WBO, WBC and WBA Welterweight Championships.
Despite the outcome, many people were not surprised that the fight went to the cards. Mayweather has been widely criticized by the public for not being an “attacking” fighter and relying on his defense to win him fights.
So much so to where Mayweather’s opponents usually hit Mayweather with around 19 percent of their punches, which ironically enough is the percentage that Pacquaio ended the fight with.
The judges scores looked like so: 118-110, 116-112, 116-112. With no judge giving Pacquiao more than four rounds.
“I thought the judges were right. Floyd won the fight. Pacquiao threw punches [but] was missing them. Mayweather was fighting defensively,” said film major Ramon Perez.
On the other hand, Pacquiao has been openly criticized by the public for being too aggressive of a fighter. Sometimes to a fault as many seen in his most recent fight with Juan Manuel Marquez as Pacquiao was knocked out.
Due to being the type of fighter Pacquiao is known for throwing high volume punches. That can be seen in his last two fights against Timothy Bradley (563 punches, according to BoxRec.com) and Chris Algeri (669 punches, according to ESPN’s Dan Rafael) .
In throwing that number of punches Pacquiao usually lands around 34 percent of them.
However, during their self-proclaimed “Mega Fight” the roles were reversed. Pacquiao landed on 81 punches out of 429 thrown, while Mayweather landed 148 of 435 punches.
The most staggering number in the judges mind was the power punches disparity. Mayweather landed 81 power punches, which was the exact same number of punches Pacquiao landed throughout the duration of the fight.
Following the fight, Pacquiao stated that he injured his shoulder during training for the fight, however, was denied treatment prior to the fight in his locker room. So ultimately he was forced to fight hurt.
After the fight, Mayweather expressed his desire to participate in his last fight in September, relinquishing all of his titles prior to the bout.
Mayweather wouldn’t state who the final fight would be against.
Many are calling for a rematch although Freshmen Miles Henry is not one of them.
“I would like to see Floyd fight Adrien Broner but that’s not going to happen. But if Floyd and Manny fight again it would be the same thing, it’s all about the money,” Henry explained.
If Mayweather does fight in September and wins the fight he would tie former Heavyweight Champion Rocky Marciano’s record of 49-0.
