Was the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao Superfight a Letdown?

In the end, it was a tragic victim of its own run-up.

Because the Mayweather-Pacquiao summit meeting had been discussed, rumored and openly fantasized about for more than a half-decade, there was essentially no way—short of 24 knockdowns in 12 rounds—that it was going to live up to the “Fight of the Century” hype it arrived with.

In fact, given the intangibles of a couple of guys named Canelo Alvarez and James Kirkland, there’s an excellent chance it won’t be the fight of the month or even fight of the first half of the month.

So, yes, measured by that exaggerated criteria, Saturday night was a letdown.

And kind of a big one…particularly for those who plunked down $100 to see it. Someone who knows a thing or two about putting on a show for boxing fans joined those disappointed with the fight. Mike Tyson evidently thought it was a letdown:

But that’s not to say that it wasn’t compelling theater nonetheless.

Sure, had it been two guys named Manny Mayweather and Floyd Pacquiao, it would quickly have been dismissed as a one-sided chess match heavy on strategy and light on violence. But given that it was still “Money” and “Pac-Man” in the very same ring after all this time, a few style points are permissible.  

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Toward that end, no less a veteran than Jim Lampley was swept up in the pageantry, too.

HBO’s lead blow-by-blow man for the last 27 years broke a personal rule against scripting lines for broadcasts in advance in order to set the stage for the sport’s longest-anticipated watershed moment.

“It is both the curse and the blessing of boxing that its biggest events are maddeningly scarce, too few and far between,” he said, flanked by longtime colleague Roy Jones Jr. and longtime rival Al Bernstein.

“For years, boxing fans were bedeviled by the notion this fight would never take place.

“And now, here they are.”

Such gravity somewhat softens the blow of a less-than-scintillating scrap.

John Locher/Associated Press

And as it turned out, Mayweather did what he could to make up for the lack of sustained action by turning the would-be pier-sixer into a master class that blended strategic offense and peerless defense.

He threw six more overall punches than a supposedly supersonic opponent with a suddenly balky shoulder and landed 67 more while running up a decisive 34-19 edge in connection percentage.

In other words, he pitched a four-hit shutout in his career’s biggest mound start.

“Boxing fans awaited this one for five years, and, had they paid attention, they should have known better than to expect great action and huge punches landed,” Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Dwyre wrote after the fight. “Mayweather simply cannot be hit. He is the boxing-action cooler.

“Don't let him stand next to you at the craps table.”

John Locher/Associated Press

Meanwhile, the biggest letdown beyond the fight itself was the subsequent press conference.

It was there that Pacquiao ditched a career’s worth of adversity-overcoming branding and chose instead to make an injury the most significant takeaway of the era's biggest fight.

Not surprisingly, the winner was a little irked.

“If he had come out victorious,” Mayweather said, “I would have shown respect and said he was the better man.”

But Mayweather needn’t worry. Though the fight was forgettable and the post-fight was needless, his preeminence—if nothing else at all—will be what’s recalled a generation from now.

No matter what else Freddie Roach and Pacquiao have concocted in the meantime.