There is a moment in HBO’s documentary, “Mayweather-Pacquiao: At Last,” when Jim Lampley says, “There is a giant pile of money here, it’s unbelievable, how much money there is here. And they’re not fighting each other? What in the world is that about?”
For an hour, HBO tried to give you an answer. And while the network did an admirable job, there really is not one simply answer.
Since late in 2009, the power brokers in boxing had attempted to make the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao fight. It was the usual suspects that prevented this fight from happening for so long – pride, respect and jealousy. All the other issues – drug testing and purse splits – stem from those three.
Fight fans, just be happy the fight was made and on Saturday night, the boxing world will finally get to see who is the better man in the ring.
As for HBO’s documentary-style build-up to the fight, it was an archivist’s dream. One can only imagine the amount of archival footage sorted through to produce this film.
HBO had televised the fights of Mayweather and Pacquiao for so long, as well as the “24/7” episodes, there was almost no need to shoot any new footage. They could almost tell the entire story based on their vast archives.
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Of course, HBO did indeed shoot new footage and conduct new interviews with the likes of Pacquiao, Freddie Roach, Pacquiao advisor Michael Koncz, Bob Arum and new HBO boss Ken Hershman.
