Mayweather vs Pacquiao - A Second Opinion

Hi everyone.

Have been waiting to post my opinions on this fight, and so I re-watched it today now that the dust has cleared to give (hopefully) an unbiased and clear headed opinion on this very contentious and polarising fight.

My first impressions, upon rewatching this fight is that I agree that Floyd won, of course. However, the scorecards do not paint the full picture of the fight. This WAS a competitive fight, and the nature of boxing scoring is the reason that this can be seen in 2 very different ways.

116-112 were both fair scores in my mind. 118-110 is very generous and wide. Now, before anyone starts to get on my case about this, the reason I say this is due to the fact that almost ALL the rounds were closely contested. The rounds that Pac won, he won unequivocally. Floyd dominated some rounds, but the rest were really up for grabs for both men. Mayweather's ring generalship was on display throughout, which puts the onus on Pac to impose himself on Floyd, but that doesn't strictly mean that the close rounds should go to Floyd on that criteria alone.

Round 1 - tentative, but Floyd's round. He seemed more comfortable - but it was tentative

Round 2 - Floyd again. But very close. Pac more aggressive.

Round 3 - Pac's round. He upped the ante, and Floyd did his thing well, but Pac was the winner

Round 4 - Clear Pac round. Hurt Floyd, and worked on him

Round 5 - Floyd again. Great comeback round, but still a competetive round

Round 6 - Clear Pac round. Fought at his pace and shook Floyd up again

Round 7 - very close. Floyd was back in his comfort zone, but Pac was effective with some clean punches. SWING ROUND.

Round 8 - Pac round. Landed some clean(ish) stuff early, and chased Mayweather around a lot. May didn't look uncomfortable, but Pac had the momentum. It was a close one though that was up for grabs.

Round 9 - Close round. pac landed some nice shots, and maybe the more eye catching stuff. Floyd again didn't seem uncomfortable, and fought his fight. Leaning towards Pac (SWING ROUND)

Round 10 - Close round. Pac kept up the pressure and landed some stuff. Floyd content to stick on the outside and let him chase him. I gave it to Pac (SWING ROUND)

Round 11 - Floyd round. Classic Mayweather matador techniques and having his own way.

Round 12 - Close round. Not much to seperate them, but Floyd looking more comfortable and in control. Pac has his moments though. Mayweather round , but close.

So, in conclusion - I believe, as I did on first watch - that it was a Floyd victory - that much is clear anyway. Mainly because he never seemed uncomfortable for too long, and the fight was fought on his terms. His ring generalship was superb. BUT, what is being overlooked is that most of the rounds were up for grabs at times, and - as the onus was on Pac to take the rounds by fighting in the way that people were expecting him to, made it seem clearer than it was.

At half way through, I had it even. And, when factoring in what I considered to be the 3 swing rounds (7,9,10) there was a case for a close score. I would not have been surprised at a 115-113 Mayweather win. I can't make a case for a Pac win, but I certainly think the fight was legitimately more closely contested than the record books will show.

Mayweather fought amazingly, and made Pac fight his fight - therefore he absolutely is a worthy winner. Does that mean it wasn't a close fight? Not in my opinion. We watched Floyd fight HIS fight, and Manny struggle with that - but he didn't lose many rounds clearly. Indeed, Pacquiao won his rounds wider. The hyperbole has gone over the top in my opinion.

ALSO, as a separate aside - the Sky commentary team is an absolute disgrace. It's been said on here before, but having not watched a fight in the UK for a while I was genuinely shocked at how much they suck the excitement out of a fight. Atrocious.

 

Floyd did look like he was fighting his fight - that is what impressed the judges in the close rounds. And rightfully so. That's what gave him the edge and made the fight *seem* less competitive than it actually was. I actually think they both fought well personally - Floyd looked good, but didn't look truly comfortable until the final third of the fight - and Pacquiao, well he was fighting Floyds fight, which is a negative thing, but he fought well in my opinion with some nice slipping and even countering Floyd effectively at times. It would have been more impressive had he fought the way that he normally does, but Floyd doesn't ever give anyone chance to do that - so I give credit to Pac for fighting effectively at times in a style that he isn't accustomed to.

And yeah, Froch's 'one sided ass whooping' is absurd. He is too crude of a commentator to take seriously. The Sky team is AWFUL. Froch gave Manny 2 ROUNDS - yet after rounds 6 and 7 he said "I gave both those rounds to Pacquiao"....so he didn't give Pac the 4th?!

 

There's an argument to be made for that - but the judging criteria in my opinion was more weighted toward ring generalship, as the difference was more vivid in that area.

 

To be clear - I am not trying to take anything away from Mayweather with this post - he is obviously a special talent and deserved the win. I am just trying to put the fight in context, as obviously the partisan fans will go over the top with their ideas of the fight, and when watched in the cold light of day it certainly was not, as Froch so crudely put it, a 'one sided ass-whooping', which is typical of the nonsense being spewed by some people (Sky commentators included).

A wide decision of 116-112 to Floyd is totally justified, by the scoring system that boxing works from - but it doesn't tell the full story of the closeness of many of the rounds. People need to retain context. It was a competitive fight - though maybe less than compelling - but Floyd's style is about nullifying peoples strengths, so it was never gonna be Hearns-Hagler.