“48 ‘Tried’ & 48 ‘Failed’–Mayweather triumphant again”
BoxingGlove Notes
Distinio Lois, Jr.
No matter how much you “study” Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and detect his boxing Achilles heel, “Mr. Pound for Pound” of the ring will continue to have his hand raised in victory with 1 more fight to go before he retires.
What a magical performance of the art of the “sweet science” for 12 rounds, he displayed over a seemingly confused Manny Pacquiao, the emotional favorite, but not the betting favorite. I saw Mayweather display a “boxing ballet” similar to world renowned Mikail Baryshnikov, Russian Ballet Dancer, darting in and out of harm’s way as he attacked an outclassed and tiring Pacquiao who couldn’t launch any successful attack over the over-powering confident master of the squared circle, who under so much pressure in and out of the ring fought the best of his 48 fights.
Floyd Mayweather, Jr. now 48-0, 26 knockouts, defeated his number 1 nemesis, Manny Pacquiao, 57-6-1, 38 k.o.’s by a unanimous but very close decision, that did not live up to the expectations of the fans but, It was really a decisive typical Mayweather victory.
Before the first bell you could “feel” the electric excitement from the standing room only crowd anxious for the 6 year wait to end and finally see these 2 mega warriors begin their “Armagedon” last man standing duel”.
From the very first round after referee Kenny Bayless’ stern instructions, you detected a very cautious but determined demeanor by Mayweather jabbing repeatedly and throwing his hard counter-punching right hand stopping Pacquiao from advancing to attack as everyone expected him to do.
The more Pacquiao advanced the easier Mayweather was able to hit him and move out of harm’s way, winning the first 3 rounds easily.
With-in those 3 rounds I began to see that the fight was becoming a difficult uphill battle for Pacquiao due to Mayweather’s brilliant ring generalship counter-acting all of Pacquiao’s rushes.
At times with the celebrity filled sell-out fight crowd you could hear them booing because at times the fight became lackluster as Mayweather was reluctant to engage in a toe to toe slug fest, repeatedly grabbed Pacquiao causing the referee to constantly separate them.
Referee Bayless did admonish Mayweather many times throughout the 12 rounds about his constant holding, bending Pacquiao down, using his elbow, and hitting him below the belt, but he never took any points away from him.
Pacquiao kept rushing forward throwing punches in bunches and missing most if not all of them as Mayweather continued to counter-punch successfully and also hold.
The boos kept increasing as Mayweather kept “running away” as they saw it, instead of realizing-as I assumed-that he was only conserving his energy while planning another well calculated attack over an already flustered and confused Pacquiao.
Towards the end of 4th round into the 5th Pacquiao finally connected a hurting punch on Mayweather’s jaw causing the crowd to roar in approval as Mayweather fell back towards the ropes expecting a typical multiple hurting punch attack by Pacquiao.
As Mayweather covered up leaning on the ropes the crowd got louder as Pacquiao threw punch after punch to head and body hurting Mayweather.
Sensing a knockout, we were all surprised when Pacquiao suddenly stopped punching and stepped back almost like giving Mayweather a chance to recover from the punch onslaught.
As the fight proceeded into the later rounds with Pacquiao still chasing an evasive Mayweather, and at times like in the 4th , 7th , 10th , and 11th rounds connecting with some punches the fight became interesting although most of the time it was the usual “hit and move” Mayweather fight as his previous 47 fights.
Manny Pacquiao did try his best effort round to round to rush forward as was his plan orchestrated by his trainer, Freddy Roach and not letting Mayweather rest, but it did not work as Mayweather stuck to his accustomed plan of moving constantly, jab and counter-punch piling up points.
Some people called it a boring fight, but it really was the usual Floyd Mayweather style of waiting for his opponent to make mistakes and then punish him. He has stated many times, “I am the smarter one in the ring, not my opponent, and when I see his mistakes I attack.”
When the fight ended, Mayweather suddenly rushed to the ropes, stood on them and in a surprisingly display of defiance screamed at the crowd, “I won, I know I won”, as he angrily folded his arms at the still booing pro-Pacquiao crowd, releasing all of the pent up emotions he had stored up since agreeing to fight Pacquiao.
The fight was very close but Mayweather no doubt won decisively. When the decision was read, 2 judges, Bert Clemens & Glen Feldman scored the same, 116 to 112, and the 3rd judge Dave Moretti scored a strange 118 to 112, all unanimously for Mayweather.
I concurred with the 116 / 112 count, but I don’t understand Moretti’s lopsided score.
In fact just before the scores were read I thought that a “114 / 113” count by all 3 judges would be more appropriate, mostly due to Mayweather’s constant moving away and Pacquiao’s missing 80% of his punches. It certainly was not a draw.
Anti-Mayweather emptions were running at an all-time high, with more boos directed at him after the decision was read but he certainly won this fight without a doubt.
At the post fight ring interview Mayweather thanked his team, the fans, Pacquiao, and especially his father who at times during the fight scolded Floyd, Jr. for staying on the ropes and not throwing enough punches.
Throughout the fight I could hear Mayweather, Sr. a great fighter in his day, yell at Mayweather, Jr., “Throw left hooks, and stay off them damn ropes son, you are letting him get away.
After the fight I saw a very emotional hug by Father and Son Mayweather.
Manny Pacquiao-maybe sour grapes-claimed that he felt that he had won the fight because “Floyd kept running away from me refusing to fight while rushed I forward throwing punches and hitting him. I want a re-match”.
Fight Foot Notes:
1) I don’t feel a re-match is warranted unless the fighters and the promoters feel that they can again generate this much interest and revenues in a second fight. I welcome a re-match if the fight had been a replica of, a Gatti vs. Ward #1 or an Ali vs. Frazier #1, or a draw, but it was none of the 3.
2) This mega fight was a clear-cut decision victory, although very close, for Floyd “Money” Mayweather, Jr.
3) It is possible that Pacquiao may feel that he could successfully campaign for a 2nd fight with Mayweather because he admitted that in training camp 4 weeks ago he injured his right shoulder slightly tearing his rotator cuff. Instead of postponing the fight, the State Athletic Commission gave him permission to be injected with a pain-killer, “Liducaine”. During training camp.
4) Because the use of Liducaine was denied just before the fight, the pain “flared” up in the 2nd round limiting the use of his right hand.
5)Pacquiao is facing surgery that would take approximately 9 months to recuperate. The fans waited 6 years for this fight ,so another year wait after all of the money invested would’ve been a financial disaster.
6) On Saturday, fight night, the local streets were silent but you could hear the roar from almost every home during the fight and especially when Pacquiao went on to attack Mayweather.
7) Floyd Mayweather stated that he had one more fight left on his 6 fight contract with ShowTime, and he would then away give away all of his championship belts and retire.
8) It was then suggested he could fight Amir Khan or maybe Middleweight Champion Miguel Cotto, and then retire with another belt. He refused to answer that question as he smiled and walked away towards his dressing room.
9) Manny Pacquiao was so closely, but decisively beaten that not even his Mother’s “voo-doo” who was sitting in the audience, would’ve helped.
10) It was reported that the M.G.M. Grand Arena was “jammed” like grand central station of “a-listers” who actually caused a “traffic-jam” at Las Vegas’ McCarran Airport “parking” their private jets just see the fight. “Only in America”, as fight promoter, Don King would say.
11) A-listers such as, Jay-Z, wife Beyonce, Denzel Washington, Ben Affleck, Magic Johnson, Tom Brady, Charles Barkley, Michael Jordan, Mary J. Blige, Don Cheadle, Robert DeNiro, Jimmy Kimmel, Justin Bieber, Clint Eastwood, Mark Wahlberg, Snoop Dogg, Nicki Minaj, etc. among others, were present. What do you think about the fight and it’s, outcome my dear Black Star News readers? Let me know or my “boss”, Mr. Milton Allimadi, owner of Black Star News, and an avid fight fan.
