Floyd Mayweather Jr. improved to 48-0 in his career with an easy victory over longtime nemesis Manny Pacquiao Saturday night at the MGM in Las Vegas.
Mayweather employed his impenetrable defensive style to perfection and frustrated the Filipino fighter, who struggled to throw and land punches. All three judges gave the fight to Mayweather to give him his sixth straight victory by decision.
Two judges had it 116-112 (eight rounds to four) while the third scored it 118-110 (10 rounds to two).
The fight was never really close.
Pacquiao did not come out of the gates charging like he usually does and lacked his typical aggression. He tried to measure Mayweather and was constantly frustrated by “Money,” who was always on the run. Whenever Manny managed to corner Floyd, Mayweather responded by tying him up and getting the judge to break them apart. It was a brilliant strategy and prevented Pacquiao from ever getting close to him. He even got in Pacquiao’s head by taunting him during the fight (watch here).
I had Pacquiao definitely winning the fourth and sixth rounds, and also a later round, but that was it. The most any of the judges gave him was four.
After the fight, Mayweather expressed fondness and respect for his opponent, whispering to Manny that he was a “helluva fighter” and “tough as a motherf—er.” He also said that they would do it again.
Mayweather has one fight remaining with Showtime as part of his six-fight agreement with the network and confirmed to Jim Gray after the fight that he would compete again in September. The question is whether he chooses to face Pacquiao in a rematch or if he picks a new opponent.
If the two do face each other in a rematch, we can’t imagine it will go much differently than this; Mayweather’s style, speed and overall defense was just to difficult for Pacquiao, who was confounded. Pacquiao is now 57-5-2 in his career but still probably the second-best fighter in the division.
Photo: Twitter/Showtime Sports
