Floyd Mayweather awakes on Sunday as the unified welterweight world champion. In outlasting Manny Pacquiao he won last night’s mega-fight unanimously. Judge Dave Moretti scored the fight 118-110 for Mayweather while judges Glenn Feldman and Burt Clements both went with 116-112.
There were signs that Pacquiao might have won the decision, or at least he thought so.
"It's a good fight. I thought I won the fight," he said. "He didn't do anything. He moved outside. I got him many more times with a lot of punches, and I thought I won the fight; I was never hurt. I was very surprised at the scores."
There was a possible low-blow by Mayweather and Pacquiao said he had a sore shoulder from training that the Nevada Boxing Commission wouldn’t allow him to take an anti-inflammatory shot for prior to the bout, but that will all be lost over time. As a matter of history, Mayweather will be remember for the win and the details will drift from memory.
It will rank as the most lucrative boxing match in history. According to
But without a Pacquiao win, the match signals the end of the mega-boxing match, if not for a considerable time, maybe forever.
The Mayweather-Pacquiao fight was boxing’s swan song. Without the buzz and possibility of a rematch with a Pacquiao win, Dana White, UFC and mix martial arts will consume the fighting world, if they hadn’t already.
This fight needed Pacquiao to win. There were 5 reasons I cited before the bout on Saturday, but as I wrote, “an upset would harken us back to the days of Ali-Frazier and before Ali became Ali, how a brash, young Cassius Clay “shocked the world” and beat Sonny Liston. Boxing is slowly seeing increased interest as witnessed by NBC Sports showing matches nationally. But there’s little doubting that fans are flocking to this match more than ever. If Pacqiao were to win the match, it would create increased buzz that will ripple for months, if not years.”
The reason we were drawn to Ali-Frazier and with it, the golden era in boxing was that those two were evenly matched. You had the original Fight of the Century with Joe Frazier (26–0, 23 KOs) and challenger Muhammad Ali (31–0, 25 KOs) both legitimately claiming they were the Heavyweight Champions of the world. Frazier won the fight in 15 rounds by unanimous decision. That setup Ali-Frazier II in January of 1974 at Madison Square Garden. And while it wasn’t a title fight, it was Ali that won by unanimous decision in 12 rounds. It all culminated with the Thrilla in Manila on Oct. 1, 1975 at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, Philippines. It was ranked as one of the best fights in history with Ali winning the fight via TKO after the 14th round.
That was drama. That was what made boxing great. It was about an evenly matched rivalry. The Mayweather-Pacquiao fight came with the overbearing politics and positioning to get the fight to happen, that by the time it finally did, both are at the end of their careers (Mayweather is age 38 while Pacquiao is age 36).
So, play a funeral dirge for boxing. As hangovers are nursed today in Las Vegas, it is boxing that may have the largest. The ability to climb into relevancy was masked by one last glorious night where the stars came out and millions watched in anticipation. Maybe there will be two fighters that will somehow rekindle the spirit it once had, but for now, the tombstone reads, “Rest In Peace”.
