MANILA, Philippines – Now that the dust is finally settled after the so-called Fight of the Century has gone down in history, undefeated WBC/WBA/IBF welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather reigns virtually supreme in the 147-pound division but is he really The Best Ever as he claims? Is he more credible as a fighter with his win on points over Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas last May 2? Or is he less believable with his pre-fight pronouncements failing to turn into reality?
Mayweather, 38, insists he?s the greatest fighter of all time, belittling the achievements of ring legends Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson and Henry Armstrong. Anticipating a backlash for his boast, he said he couldn?t care less. Mayweather has been described as delusional for his comments with Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield questioning if his 48-0 record is enough basis to support the brash declaration.
Defeating Pacquiao has sent Mayweather up in the clouds because it?s widely known that the Filipino had the best chance of any fighter in the horizon to put a stain on the 1996 Olympic bronze medalist?s record. But was Mayweather?s victory all that convincing? At least three judges thought so as Dave Moretti scored it 118-110 while Glenn Feldman and Burt Clements saw it 116-112. Even the Compubox stats reflected who was clearly the superior fighter that night as the numbers showed Mayweather landed 148 of 435 punches compared to Pacquiao?s 81 of 429. Never mind if the figures appeared unusually strange because Pacquiao is supposed to be a volume puncher and Mayweather, less active but more accurate. In this case, the situation was reversed.
Was it because Pacquiao fought with an injured right shoulder starting the fourth round? If the shoulder hampered Pacquiao?s ability to throw, why was he the more aggressive fighter until the last bell? Why didn?t Pacquiao reveal the injury when he was interviewed by HBO?s Max Kellerman in the ring shortly after it was announced that Mayweather had won a unanimous decision?
Before the bout, Mayweather promised it would be an exciting encounter. Was it? Did Mayweather do his part to make it exciting? This was the Fight of the Century, the Battle For Greatness but Mayweather turned it into a holding and dancing affair. How could Mayweather have thrown more punches than Pacquiao when most of the way, he held, danced and avoided engaging the Filipino dervish? Would Ali, Robinson and Armstrong have done the same to win a fight? Mayweather figured the only way to win was to stay away from Pacquiao?s strike zone so he fought defensively. He was out there not to lose instead of to win. Surely, this couldn?t be the right way to win by the man who?s self-proclaimed to be The Best Ever. Dean’s Corner ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1
Mayweather?s father and trainer Floyd Sr. predicted a decisive ending. ?Floyd gonna hit him so easy,? he said. ?Floyd will dominate him bad. He gonna paralyze him. Floyd got a good chance of knocking him out. He?s going to look smaller than that when Floyd gets through with his ass. We gonna chop him down some more.?
As it turned out, Mayweather was nowhere close to scoring a knockout. That?s because he never risked a close encounter. He kept a safe distance away, backtracking, sidestepping and clinching whenever Pacquiao came dangerously close to punching away. Pacquiao was never hurt, never staggered.
For Mayweather, living is all about money which by the way, is what he calls himself. ?There ain?t no losers when you make nine figures for 36 minutes of work,? he said quoted by Tim Keown in ESPN The Magazine. For sure, Mayweather works hard to earn his millions. He?s the only fighter in history with at least two bouts of over two million pay-per-view buys and when the accounting is done for the Pacquiao match, it will be three. To Mayweather, money is all that counts in life and it?s what brings him friends, adulation and fame. He is the embodiment of greed, extravagance, opulence and avarice.
?Mayweather is invariably described as polarizing, a word that is as woefully noncomprehensive as it is factual,? wrote Keown. ?He is the greatest fighter of his generation. He is also a man whose eagerness to proclaim his own talent ? he calls himself TBE or The Best Ever ? and flaunt his extreme lifestyle has caused a good percentage of those who pay attention to boxing to revile him. His history of violence against women has triggered outright revulsion ? three convictions, including one that landed him a two-month jail term in 2012 for misdemeanor domestic battery and harassment. Those who hate Mayweather don?t want to see him lose; they want to see him buried.?
Mayweather said he?ll fight Pacquiao in a rematch ?a year after his surgery.? He previously said his last fight ever will be in September against a still unknown opponent. Then, a few days later, he changed his mind and branded Pacquiao ?a sore loser? and ?a coward.? Mayweather had earlier praised Pacquiao as ?a hell of a fighter, I take my hat off to him, now I see why he?s one of the guys that are at the pinnacle of the sport of boxing.? Mayweather?s Jekyll and Hyde routine makes him difficult to pin down for a clear statement. He?s as elusive outside the ring as in it. But maybe, that?s what makes Mayweather a marketable commodity. He thrives in being controversial, contradictory, unpredictable and unreliable.
For over five years, he avoided battling Pacquiao, raising speculation he didn?t want to gamble losing his perfect record at the peak of the Filipino?s career. Mayweather put out different reasons, if not excuses, to delay the inevitable until he was good and ready to get it on. There was talk that the CBS-owned Showtime pressured Mayweather into coming to terms with Pacquiao because the cable TV network pushed for a big ticket item after noticing a drop in his pay-per-view popularity. But that couldn?t be confirmed. It?s hard to confirm anything with Mayweather because of his volatility. His credibility took a hit in beating Pacquiao but Mayweather is still the world?s No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter and money is really all that matters to him.
