It was the fight the world had waited for, for around five or six years to be more specific.
But when Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao finally met in Las Vegas on this day eight years ago, which set boxing gate records. Mayweather was the better man as he edged nearer his imperious 50-0 record, making Pacquiao victim number 48.
Andre Berto and Conor McGregor followed in the Pacquiao slipstream but the much-hyped Mayweather-Pacquiao fight, on May 2 2015, failed to dazzle. Mayweather may not have been as sharp as he had been years earlier, but Pacquiao’s decline was far more stark.
The Filipino’s career arguably reached its pinnacle in November 2009 with a 12th round stoppage of Miguel Cotto, continuing a run that had seen Pacquiao stop David Diaz, Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton as he rapidly moved through the weights. There was a point where March 13, 2010, seemed possible for Manny v Money, and that would have been close to perfect.
Pacquiao's Challenges Post-Cotto: Tough Fights and Close Calls
But post Cotto, Pacman toiled for 12 rounds against tough Joshua Clottey, couldn’t finish a half-blind Antonio Margarito, couldn’t turn the screws to finish a hurt Shane Mosely, lost a robbery to Timothy Bradley and was then knocked out in terrifying fashion by his old rival, Juan Manuel Marquez. Pacquiao did not sizzle again in the three fights that followed before the Mayweather bout was eventually signed, going the distance with blown up lightweight-super-lightweight Brandon Rios [after having taken nearly a year off], beating Bradley in a rematch and then flooring Chris Algieri six times but not being able to stop him.
By late 2014, many were insisting the Manny who fought Cotto would have blitzed Rios and Algieri, and he wouldn’t have got decapitated by Marquez.
Mayweather had done 12 hard rounds with Cotto, hardly lost a round to the combined pairing of Robert Guerrero and Canelo Alvarez, but was then given two tougher than expected tests by Marcos Maidana before making the Manny match.
But maybe commercially there had been no better time to strike because for all it could have been in the ring, Mayweather-Pacquiao when it did happen could not be faulted at the Box Office and beyond, shattering records that might last generations. A star-studded crowd of more than 17,000 at the MGM Grand shelled out more than $72m and the previous PPV record, 2.48m for Mayweather-De La Hoya, was nearly doubled, with Mayweather-Pacquiao doing an extraordinary 4.6m.
Aftermath of Pacquiao vs Mayweather: Pacquiao Reveals Shoulder Injury, Fans Still Disappointed With Fight Outcome
Afterwards, Pacquiao lamented a pre-existing shoulder injury that neutrals felt short-changed by, that Mayweather fans didn’t buy and that even Pacquiao’s staunchest supporters did not feel would have changed the outcome of the fight in 2015. Their argument, that lives on today, is that the fight would have been a different proposition in 2010.
Post-fight, Mayweather said he could see why Manny had been at the pinnacle, Pacquiao thought he won, so did his trainer Freddie Roach and his promoter Bob Arum, but across the media, aside from a couple of level scorecards, the resounding majority had Mayweather a worthy winner on the cards. Two judges had it 116-112, one had it 118-110 and there was no controversy.
The main problem was not that Mayweather won, or the decision, and definitely not the finances, it was the fact that the contest failed to deliver for anyone who did not expect to see another wide Mayweather victory and who did not realise he could take command of the contest the way that he did. Then, of course, there was the shoulder injury. Many felt the fight shouldn’t have gone ahead, after Pacquiao had been refused a painkilling injection at the 11th hour because he had not informed the commission of the damage.
It could have been so much more as a sporting spectacle. It definitely did not live up to its Fight of the Century billing inside the ropes and they didn’t serve up a classic.
Would the Manny Pacquiao who fought Cotto, Hatton and Oscar have torn into Mayweather like no one ever had? Would Floyd have always been too slick, too smart or too good? We will, of course, never know. The one thing that we can’t dispute, though, was economically the fight was a monster and was never bigger than it was on May 2, 2023, even if it could have been better a few years earlier.
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