The Floyd Mayweather versus Manny Pacquiao fight might not have lived up to the hype in the ring but had the feel of a once in a lifetime event for those lucky enough to attend.
Mayweather easily defeated Pacquiao to stay unbeaten (48-0) on May 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV, seizing control of the latter stages of the fight to claim a unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards.
Judges Burt Clements and Glenn Feldman scored the contest 116-112, while judge Dave Moretti scored it 118-110, all in favor of Mayweather. We at The Blitz scored the bout 117-111 for Mayweather.
“He’s a hell of a fighter,” Mayweather said afterward of the rival he struggled to come to terms with for over half a decade. “I take my hat off to Manny Pacquiao. Now I see why he’s one of the guys who is at the pinnacle of the sport of boxing.”
Thanks to covering the Mayweather Promotions red carpet I was able to capture some sights and sounds of the lead up to the big event on fight night.
If you are one of the people disappointed with the action in the ring just remember this, Mayweather is a boxing savant who makes A-list fighters look like B-list fighters. People around the world waited for this fight for five years, had they paid attention, they should have known better than to expect great action and huge punches landed in the Canelo vs. Kirkland matchup.
Mayweather simply cannot be hit. At the end of the day there’s nothing cool about getting hit as boxing legend Bernard Hopkins tell us.
What was so disappointing was to hear Pacquiao, trainer Freddie Roach and Top Rank promoter Bob Arum make excuses after the fight (which, incredibly, they said they thought they won) for Pacquiao’s poor performance, something they attributed to a right shoulder injury suffered about 2½ weeks before the bout. But it’s very simple: If you’re hurt, don’t fight. If you do fight, do not make excuses like Pacquiao and his team.
“He was moving around too much, it wasn’t easy throwing punches at him. If he would’ve stayed in one place then I could’ve thrown punches,” Pacquiao said shortly after being dominated by Mayweather.
At the end of the day, there were no losers when it comes to the fight affectionately known as MayPac in social media circles.
Both men made over 100 million dollars with Mayweather expected to bring in over 200 million and set records which will stand for a very long time.
The boxing blockbuster event shattered the previous record for total pay-per-view buys and now ranks as the highest-grossing pay-per-view of all time. Initial reports from distributors indicate that the event generated more than 4.4 million U.S. buys and more than $400 million in domestic pay-per-view revenue alone. With additional revenue from the live gate at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, international television distribution, sponsorships, closed circuit and merchandise sales, the event is expected to generate in excess of $500 million in gross worldwide receipts.
The welterweight world championship unification bout nearly doubled the previous record of 2.48 million buys generated by the Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather boxing event in 2007 and nearly tripled the record $150 million in U.S. pay-per-view revenue generated by Mayweather vs. Canelo Alvarez in 2013. Live gate receipts for the star-studded event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena produced more than $71 million in revenue, dramatically eclipsing the previous live gate record of $20 million (for Mayweather vs. Canelo) for both the sport of boxing and Las Vegas.
Additionally, Mayweather vs. Pacquiao set the record for closed circuit admissions and revenue both in Las Vegas and at establishments nationwide. The event sold nearly 46,000 closed circuit admissions at MGM Resorts International properties in Las Vegas alone and was available at more than 5,000 bars, restaurants and commercial establishments throughout the U.S.
Mayweather said he will fight again in September — opponent to be determined — and then retire with the conclusion of his Showtime/CBS contract. When he does, he will go down as “TBE” aka the best ever, something he proved at long last with his shutdown of Pacquiao.
