Wow. That word effectively and simply sums up the "fight of the century." However this is not a "WOW!! What a great fight by the best boxers of this generation! This fight was definantly worth the $100!" No, sadly this is a wow, I can't believe people were forced to pay that much to watch an atrocity that should in no way qualify as a boxing match. Where was the fighting? Every time Manny Pacquiao tried to swing at Floyd "(just robbed you of your) money" Mayweather, he was met with a duck and quick jab, a clinch of Manny, or he simply just backpedaled and danced around the ring. Before any member/supporter of "The Money Team" who happens to be reading this decides I have no idea what I'm talking about because that's how Floyd fights, I am fully aware that this is his strategy. It just flat out sucks, and at the same time it epitomizes Money Mayweather. It's known that the man is the quintessential coward, the fact that he is a serial woman beater is a prime example of this, it's just disappointing that in boxings biggest fight in the last 20 or so years he continued to fight like one.
You can throw all the numbers from the fight you want at me, I know Floyd landed 138 punches to Manny's 81, and the fact that Floyd even threw a few more punches than his offensive minded opponent did. But how many of those punches were combinations? How many did any real damage Pacquiao physically, not just damage his scorecard? Manny, like 47 other fighters before him, could not crack the Mayweather defense, and like almost every other big fight of his career Mayweather did just enough between, avoiding any punches and landing a counter-jab every now and again, to win the decision. Manny on the other hand actually provided some entertainment in the few times he was actually able to get in on Floyd and landed some impressive combos, but before he could really get going Mayweather predictably clinched Pacman. I should have known this fight would suck, I heard all about Mayweather's defensive tactics, he duped me into watching this disgrace to any and all fighting, just so he could play the decision and walk away with more money in one night than most people will ever have in a lifetime. Obviously he would win the decision, Manny hit air on 81% of his punches, but it feels like Manny should've won because he looked like the only one in the ring trying to actually box.
If you couldn't tell I was pro-Manny for this fight, not because of the whole "good-vs-evil" hoopla because that was really Freddie Roach and Team Pacqiao feeding America a load of crap because Manny's a bad dude too (though I still feel he is the lesser of two evils) I was sick of hearing Money claim he's the best of all time simply because he hasn't lost a professional fight. A lot of guys probably could go or could have gone unbeaten if they danced around and refused to do any real fighting. You want to know why boxing is so unpopular now? Floyd Mayweather. You could tell a lot of people hate the guy because of who he really is outside the ring, that isn't the kind of man you want to be the face of any sport. Boxing has had it's share of villains at the top, most notably (outside Mayweather) is probably Mike Tyson, but he at least fought his opponent, Tyson may have been a really messed up guy, but he was at least entertaining. Someone was going to get knocked out in a Tyson fight, whether it was Mike or who ever he was fighting.
Which brings me to my second and final point on primarily why boxing is so unpopular. Not only is the face of the sport synonymous with villain, he simply is completely boring. In a world where people expect to be forced to the edge of their seat with high octane, ultra-entertaining offensive sports, boxing's best continually delivers the opposite. Why do you think baseball is growing less popular and football and basketball continue to look for ways to increase entertainment by tweaking rules to implore more offense and a quicker pace? Mayweather the person sells more tickets and pay per view viewings because want to see him go down, however people fail to realize they will be watching Mayweather the boxer, a man who evades more punches than he does convictions, dodges more blows than Manny does taxes, and when he does hit it's sure to be quick and boring, his offense is there only so he can escape and reset his defense. Who wants to watch a sport where it's headliner throws more punches at women than he does at other actual boxers?
Floyd announced he will fight one more fight in September then retire. Unfortunately it's almost guaranteed not to be "Mayweather Pacquiao II" because the man is too prideful to take a chance that Pacquiao may get the better of him in a rematch, he'll probably fight the number 82 boxer in the world, bore the world to a victory (by decision), and then leave only to make headlines for more domestic abuse cases where he won't get convicted. So in conclusion, the fight was so bad that it produced the rant you just read, and it made me wish I had watched Saturday Night Live, or the replay of Cippers-Spurs game 7 instead.
Here are some great stories from Deadspin:
http://deadspin.com/floyd-mayweather-is-a-coward-1701842801
http://deadspin.com/this-is-how-las-vegas-protects-floyd-mayweather-1699848463
http://deadspin.com/dont-believe-the-hype-mayweather-pacquiao-is-not-good-1696609726
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