Fight of the century a bust?
Bryan G. Cole G. Raymond P. Mathew E.
The hype grew so big that some of the greatest minds in boxing convinced themselves that things would be different. That Manny’s reach would suddenly grew longer. That Floyd wouldn’t throw love-taps for most of the fight, content to play defense and let one or two power punches give him rounds. They thought that the “whoosh” made by Pacquiao’s missed punches and the crowd noise that followed would fool us into thinking this was a real bout, not robbery with the press of a PPV button. They were selling a lie and we were all too happy to buy into it.
You can only fool people so long. By the third round, it was clear Mayweather was going to be successful in playing defense for nine more rounds. By the seventh, it was obvious Pacquiao wasn’t going to be able to get him down. The announcement that Mayweather was the victor was an inevitability. Pacquiao was the loser, but he had company. All of us were too. Most had watched the classic end to the Spurs-Clippers Game 7 before flipping over to the fight. It had action, unpredictability and “did you see that?!” moments. Basically it was the exact opposite of Mayweather-Pacquiao. Oh, and it didn’t cost $99.95.