Floyd Mayweather Jr. took some hard shots from Manny Pacquiao in the "Fight of the Century," but as the rounds wore on Mayweather took control of the bout and took a unanimous decision victory over his greatest rival. The ringside judges scored the bout 118-110, 116-112 while Sports World News had it 116-112 for Mayweather. He is now the unified WBC, WBA, and WBO welterweight champion.
Pacquiao was aggressive throughout and even landed his patented straight left hand twice on Mayweather, but he was wildly inaccurate with his jab-18-of-193-and gave way to confusion that he couldn't penetrate Mayweather's defense.
After the fight, Pacquiao insisted he had won the fight on the strength of his aggression.
"I thought I caught him many more times than he caught me," Pacquiao said. "I was never hurt. I was very surprised by the scores. I thought I hit him much more than he hit me."
Pacquiao may well have landed harder punches, but the infrequency of him landing was his downfall. Mayweather controlled the pace from Round 1, and survived two instances in which he was momentarily shaken by Pacquiao left hands. After the second hard Pacquiao punch that landed flush, Mayweather withstood a flurry along the ropes and then shook his head and smirked.
After that, Pacquiao's output dramatically dropped and the undefeated Mayweather coasted for the final three rounds. In his post-fight interview Mayweather said he will fight one more time in September and then retire. Pacquiao declined to say when his next fight would be, and said it was in the hands of his promoter Bob Arum.
© Copyright 2024 Sports World News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
