The fight of the century turned into something of a procession as Floyd Mayweather successfully kept his unbeaten record against Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas in the small hours of Sunday morning.
Mayweather recorded a victory on points over his Filipino opponent, but many news outlets felt it failed to live up to the hype.
From Sports Illustrated: It’s difficult to describe the evolution of emotion on a night like this. At just after midnight—the main event was purposely delayed to accommodate prospective buyers who were dealing with ordering issues on Time Warner Cable—the two biggest stars of this generation stood in opposite corners. It’s something so few believed would actually happen, creating a palpable buzz in the building. That buzz faded soon after the opening bell, like air slowly leaking from a balloon. A cutting Pacquiao right hand in the fourth round provided a temporary lift—until Mayweather recovered and resumed picking Pacquiao apart.
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That felt more like a business transaction than a fight. Respect to Floyd though. Boxing is not the style of fighting to stop him.
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) May 3, 2015
From ESPN: Anyone expecting a fight against Pacquiao was soundly disappointed outside of a few brief skirmishes in the early rounds. Mayweather’s plan is to suck the excitement out of every fight with his brilliant defensive style, and he executed his game plan to near perfection. As the fight rolled on, Pacquiao’s output decreased because Mayweather tagged him with accurate potshots.
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Tonight was a significant opportunity for a sport to re-establish itself globally. The damage that terrible show did to boxing is massive.
— Arash Madani (@ArashMadani) May 3, 2015
From The Telegraph: Trainer Freddie Roach had claimed that he needed to wage a perfect fight to stand any hope of victory, and this was far too flawed a performance to make that possible. He faded badly in the last five rounds as Mayweather, characteristically, identified his every weakness. He is a charming and endearing figure, but his subsequent argument that he won this contest did him scant credit.
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So, about $300-million, for that? This world, eh. Everyone take a shower and go to bed.
— Dan Robson (@RobsonDan) May 3, 2015
From Bleacher Report: The private jet lot at McCarran International looks like a D.C. traffic jam. Michael Jordan arrived on the scene. Denzel Washington sat ringside in a sweatsuit looking like he caught an Uber ride from Doc Brown to the fight. Even Verne “Mini-Me” Troyer made an appearance.
Seemingly every big name from the entertainment and sports industry was packed in sideways at the MGM Grand on Saturday night to watch what could be the final “super match” in the history of boxing. They came to ogle the last living dodo bird—an undesirable specimen, in many ways, but the only true blue chip the sport has left to offer.
Read more here.
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