MAYWEATHER ON TOP OF THE WORLD
JEFF POWELL AND MARTIN SAMUEL ON THE BIG FIGHT
SOMETIMES it is about more than just the money. Floyd mayweather mounted the ropes to confront his detractors. ‘i told you,’ he informed them, slamming a fist into his bare chest. ‘i told you.’
And he did. The Best ever, was mayweather’s boast. And maybe he is. At some of it anyway. At mining finance from violence, obviously. Unsurpassed. But this was about a purer mastery, of the fight game, of the sweet science.
The way that mayweather likes to win in his senior years, this was as good as it gets. not a classic spectacle but, in its own way, a masterclass. Try as he might, manny Pacquiao couldn’t get close. He said he thought he had won. Barely concealed incredulity greeted that verdict.
The judges were unanimous: 118-110, 116112, 116-112. The rounds that were given to Pacquiao were, in part, due to his sheer effort more than absolute supremacy. He threw flurries of punches and, on occasions, looked busy.
it is easy to favour the guy with ambition. mayweather can appear almost too cool, too studied, too focused on defence — but it is hard to believe there has ever been a more accurate puncher. Busy, busy, busy, went Pacquiao; and mayweather would pick him off.
in those moments, he transcended the hype. There is so much of it around boxing, so many audacious declarations, so much huckster salesmanship, that it often gets forgotten that some of it is actually true.
The claims made for mayweather’s genius are most certainly not false. He really is one of the all-time greats, he really is the best pound for pound. And the best ever? He surely has a case. He is one fight away from the rocky marciano record — 49-0 — and says he will leave it there. Few believe him. on this evidence, he has two more in him at least.
Pacquiao is a phenomenal opponent, but mayweather made him look ordinary. He was ineffectual, he didn’t connect, the injured shoulder – dismissed by the nevada board – sounded an increasingly unfortunate excuse.
mayweather’s father called it right. in the days before this fight, Floyd senior did a little turn for the room.
‘manny Pacquiao?’ he said dismissively. ‘i’ll show you what manny Pacquiao does.’ He rose from his stool. Fut-fut-fut-fut-fut-fut, he went, his fists pumping like pistons, yet fruitlessly, at an imaginary body. Fut-fut-fut-fut-fut-fut. And that’s what it was for most of the 12 rounds.
on occasions, mayweather looked at his opponent and shook his head. He wanted him to know he wasn’t getting through. He wanted the world to know it, too. For cut through the money talk and what remains is one of the greatest athletes of this, or any, generation.
The dedication required to reach that level and remain there has to be about more than just the zeros in the bank. mayweather says he cares more for loot than legacy, reels off lists of Bugattis, private jets and nine figure pay days and, in that moment, he no doubt means it. it is his image, and he protects it well.
The scattered notes, launching his wealth into the air, making it rain.
yet nobody goes 48-0 without caring about their sport, too, without putting in relentless hours, without having a phenomenal desire for victory.
mayweather talks as if it doesn’t matter whose hand gets raised because he banks another hundred million either way. yet he doesn’t fight like that.
‘in my family it was always about being first,’ he said. ‘Win, win, win was all that mattered.’ And when he climbs into the ring it is this little boy who takes over as the emotions that drove him to the top overwhelm. He doesn’t think like an accountant as he skips around the canvas. He is a boxer. A boxer who doesn’t get beat.
There wasn’ t a scratch on him when he spoke after the fight, but then there never is. Pacquiao has given out some vicious poundings in his time, left faces looking like oil paintings — Cubist-era Picassos.
disfigurement did not come close to happening here. mayweather had a premature hand raised as the ten-second countdown began at the end of the final round. He knew. Pacquiao’s work had been in vain. He had swung at air and banged away at walls of calm resistance. mayweather was simply better. He hit better, moved better, defended better, ran better.
He did all that was promised on his behalf, save knocking Pacquiao out early, as his father thought would happen.
‘real short,’ was Floyd senior’s prediction for the fight and his frustration showed. ‘you different. How come? How come?’ he could be heard chastising his son at the end of the sixth round. Later, mayweather junior gave a simple explanation. He had a very difficult opponent. ‘one tough mother*****,’ as he whispered to Pacquiao when they embraced at journey’s end.
He would have been even tougher five years ago, but that is the other facet of mayweather’s brilliance — his head for business. He delayed this meeting until it was worth four times the potential take from 2010 and until Pacquiao had just inched over the peak.
That is said of mayweather, too, that he is not the force he was, that he doesn’ t knock opponents out anymore. The statistics show this is true. yet, like all good champions he finds ways to win. mayweather has something of Chelsea about him, as Frank Warren intimated, knowing how to get over
the line, doing enough, tailoring his game to the circumstances.
He didn’t risk a thing against Pacquiao, barely let him in range. His defence was quite superb, covering up on the ropes, holding, then breaking out. A sustained burst of action from Pacquiao would be brought to an end by a straight right from Mayweather, perfectly on target. And the judges would duly note it was the truest punch of the lot.
‘My love for boxing is not the same, but it is my job and I do my job,’ said Mayweather. ‘It’s about working smart, not hard. I didn’t get this far to suffer abuse on my body. I believe in taking as few risks as possible, so this was another day at work. I knew in my heart I was beating him and I thought I was beating him easy.’
He was and the professionals agreed. Amir Khan seconded Mayweather’s verdict; Barry McGuigan said it was boring, and as he expected. ‘What you can’t catch you can’t hit,’ decided Lennox Lewis. He was right.
Pacquiao only found his target with 19 per cent of his punches and while he may have had shoulder trouble, Mayweather should not be denied his credit for that. Maybe it explains Pacquiao’s delusion. He was doing as much work as usual to win the fight, but it wasn’t having the same effect.
It was a cargo cult performance. South Sea islanders separated from western civilisation were exposed to the modern world during the Second World War.
They suddenly saw planes land carrying food and other useful materials and they want this to happen again. So they carve out imitation landing strips and a man sits in a hut with pretend headphones made of wood with bamboo antennae and wait for planes to land. But none come. Because it looks the same, but it isn’t.
So Pacquiao was doing all the stuff that usually wins him fights. So it must have felt like he was winning the fight. But he wasn’t.
nobody was receiving those punches, nobody was feeling that damage. Mayweather dodged it, ducked it, danced away and stared back at him, mocking, almost bemused at all the useless exertion.
‘Sorry boxing fans,’ said Oscar De La Hoya, but there was no need for apology. Whatever his personal failings, Mayweather deserves to be recognised as an outstanding exponent of a brutal art. It doesn’t even look like violence at times. It looks like dancing, or science, sometimes mathematics or raw athleticism. And, from there, it converts so easily into cash that some get muddled and think that’s really all it’s about.