photo: Stephanie Trapp @TrappFotos

In what was a historic night for Floyd Mayweather as he turned in a vintage performance against career nemesis, Manny Pacquiao as he earned the win via unanimous decision with the scores of 118-110 and 116-112 times two, the same score ITR Boxing had. “He had moments in the fight, but I outboxed, I was a smart fighter…and I did what I had to do.” Mayweather explained after the fight. “When the history books are written, this was worth the wait!”

The first round started with Mayweather taking the center of the ring as he asserted control early. With in seconds into the round,  Mayweather landed a straight right that moved Pacquiao back, but in the middle of the fight Pacquiao attempted to leap in on Mayweather who caught him crisp with a straight right hand that rocked Pacquiao. The second round saw a more aggressive Pacquiao, but still doomed to fail as the more precise fighter, Floyd Mayweather, continued to land the right hand every single round. The third followed suit as well as Pacquiao seemed befuddled by the straight right hand and ways to get inside on Floyd without getting tagged excessively.

The fourth round saw the first bit of action from Manny Pacquiao in which a straight left that seemingly hurt Floyd Mayweather who had to cover up on the ropes for a brief period, but could not sustain pressure. This was the first round that Pacquiao obtained clearly. The fifth saw a more aggressive Floyd Mayweather, who may have listened to his father in the corner, Floyd Mayweather Sr., who yelled at his son to push Pacquiao backwho began to push back Pacquiao.

The sixth round in contrast saw a shift in which Pacquiao began to come on strong with the left hand as he moved back Mayweather into the corner and let off large combos. Mayweather seemingly either really felt the power or was trying to let Pacquiao punch himself out as he sat on the ropes and rested for the remaining portion of the round. The seventh saw a trend in which Pacquiao would have a great round, then would find himself losing the following which he did by Mayweather timing him coming in and neutralizing him and making the fight at a distance once again. Think of Mayweather’s best moments as a kid with a ruler playing tag slapping a kid away from touching him.

The seventh both fighters had moments , but when the action was at a lull that meant Mayweather was winning as he used his feet to create confusion and angles just appeared to give Pacquiao fits. The eighth and ninth round Mayweather relied heavily on his jab to stiffly Pacquiao who caught Mayweather late with a straight left hand with less than ten seconds in the round that Pacquiao couldn’t capitalize on as once again he smothered his punches leaving him unable to land something of note following.

The tenth saw Mayweather seemingly take the round off as Pacquiao came on very strong, but just like every other round Pacquiao had won Mayweather came out in the eleventh round with a hard right that earned Pacquiao’s respect quickly. The championship round encompassed the entire fight as Pacquiao continued to try to get Mayweather in the corner , but smoother himself as it appeared Mayweather was still landing the cleaner shots as well as even walking Pacquiao late in the round.

The final round saw Mayweather taking a break seemingly giving away the final frame of the bout, but in the end it didn’t matter. The sad thing is even though the win was so dominant, it will probably not be respected by detractors who will claim that Pacquiao was past his prime. The fact is that both guys were past their prime and both had their moments in the fight, in a fight that at least for hardcore fight fans enjoyed, but we will see how the narrative will play out in mainstream media.

After the fight Floyd Mayweather explained  he is fighting in September and after that he is retiring. This would mean that he would retire at 49-0 tying himself with Rocky Marciano who died with the same record, many have suspected that Mayweather would attempt to break Marciano, but a very sincere Mayweather confident that it is time to move on from the sport very soon.