Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao: Everything You Need to Know for Superfight

Forty-seven fights and nearly 20 years into his professional career, Floyd Mayweather, considered by most to be the finest pugilist of his generation, will face the defining moment of his professional life. When he calls his bout with Manny Pacquiao Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas "just another fight," as he did in a recent conference call with the media, you can be assured he's lying through his beautifully white teeth.

"Once you ever get into a boxing match of this nature and you've never lost before, you wake up in the morning, your heart is beating, you go to bed with a fast beat," former heavyweight champion George Foreman told the press last week. "You’re nervous. There’s so much pressure on Mayweather. More pressure probably than any athlete around right now because he’s undefeated."

This isn't just a fight. It's the fight. At stake is everything he holds dear—his status as the best ever, his championship belts and pound-for-pound accolades and, most importantly, his perfect record. So much focus has been put on the zero in Mayweather's 47-0, that little thought has been devoted to what it would mean if it flipped over and showed a different number—one.

Mayweather's place in history, by his own reckoning, all comes down to that. When he says he's better than Muhammad Ali and every other boxer who's come before him, it's on the strength of that zero. 

"I take my hat off and then acknowledge all of the past champions," Mayweather said. "Ali, I think he was a legend. I respect Ali like I respect any other champion. I just feel like I've done everything I can do in this sport over my whole life, for 30-something years. I feel like I've done just as much in this sport as Ali did." 

A loss to Pacquiao, his own claim as this generation's best fighter buttressed by a decade's trial and toil in the ring, will change everything for Mayweather. It will lend credence to the whispers provided in steady supply by his doubters, accusations that he cherry-picked his fights and took a soft route to greatness. That he met his Hall of Fame foes only after Father Time did the real work for him.

That reductive premise is ludicrous in part. Mayweather has beaten a multitude of Hall of Fame-level opponents in his career. Whether they were at their absolute pinnacle or not, he's been in with greatness and emerged each time with his hand raised high.

A single loss to Pacquiao doesn't erase that. He's earned a spot on any list of the sport's 50 best fighters, regardless of what happens in this bout. But a loss closes the door on any comparison to the Alis and Sugar Ray Robinsons of the world. It may even, in fact, propel Pacquiao past him when history is finally written, even if both he and Manny appear to be mere shadows of their past selves. 

"This fight is very important to me and in boxing history," Pacquiao admitted at the opening press conference. "We don't want to leave a question mark in the mind of boxing fans."

In a few days, all our questions will finally be answered in the ring. Until then, what follows will have to suffice. Who are these fighters? Why do they matter? And, perhaps most importantly, who will win? Bleacher Report is here to help answer those questions and prepare you for the fight of the century.

Have a prediction of your own? Let us hear it in the comments.

The Fighter: Floyd Mayweather

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Floyd "Money" Mayweather

Age: 38

Height: 5'8"

Weight: 147 

Reach: 72 inches

Stance: Orthodox

Record: 47-0 (26 KO)

Rounds Fought: 363

Championship Rounds Fought: 240

Trainer: Floyd Mayweather Sr. 

They call Floyd Mayweather "Money" for good reason—he brings it home by the wheelbarrow full. Since defeating Oscar De La Hoya in 2007 to become boxing's pound-for-pound king, Mayweather has doubled as the sport's top drawing card. According to Forbes, he's earned more than $400 million during the course of his 19-year career, the bulk of it in the eight years since that bout. 

He stands to add significantly to that sum against Pacquiao on May 2, when win, lose or draw, he's expected to walk away from the MGM Grand with between $120 and $180 million. Either total would push Mayweather past golfer Tiger Woods, making his 2015 the biggest year, from a monetary perspective, of any athlete in history.

Those staggering sums make it easy to overlook the fact that his financial success doesn't exist in its own realm, independent of his athletic excellence. Mayweather has earned that cash the hard way—by perfecting his craft both inside and outside the ring, where he's helped reinvent boxing promotion with reality-based programming and a carefully crafted image.

The facade has started to slip in recent years. A troublesome pattern of domestic abuse makes it hard, even for those who admire his athletic gifts, to admire him as a man.

His last refuge, the ring, has also been less kind than ever as Mayweather closes out a Hall of Fame career. He was hit more times by the unheralded Marcos Maidana than he'd ever been hit before in a professional prize fight. Although he emerged from that fight victorious, it was a result that gives Pacquiao supporters hope as he attempts to upend a fighter previously considered all but unhittable.

The Fighter: Manny Pacquiao

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Manny "Pac-Man" Pacquiao

Age: 36

Height: 5'6.5"

Weight: 147 

Reach: 67 inches

Stance: Southpaw

Record: 57-5-2 (38 KO)

Rounds Fought: 412

Championship Rounds Fought: 162

Trainer: Freddie Roach 

Born into nearly unimaginable poverty, Pacquiao moved to Manila as a young man to make his way in the world. Fighting on the streets for the amusement of strangers, Pacquiao discovered a gift that would ultimately make him one of the most famous men on the planet. 

When his career began at 16, he stood a shade under five feet and weighed just 98 pounds, forcing him to put weights in his pockets just to meet the 105-pound minimum. It's a story that tells you everything there is to know about Pacquiao—a testament to his desire, intelligence and his sleight of hand.

Twenty years later, Pacquiao is more myth than man in his home country, equal parts politician, celebrity, athlete and icon. That slim, slight child is just a distant memory.

The man who steps into the ring against Mayweather is arguably the most accomplished boxer of his era. He's won championships in eight weight classes and lineal championships in four, meaning he was the man who beat the man. His unprecedented run of success inspired the Boxing Writers Association of America to name him Fighter of the Decade for the 2000s.

All those accolades, however, were earned before December 8, 2012. On that infamous evening, Pacquiao was knocked out cold by rival Juan Manuel Marquez, plummeting face first to the mat with a sickening thud.

Whether he ever truly recovered from that night is a matter of much debate in the world of boxing. The answer to that question, very likely, will determine whether or not he can shock the world on May 2.

The Timeline

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It's been a long and winding road to this superfight, a six-year journey that seemed for a time like it would never culminate in the bout the boxing world demanded. For six years this has been the fight we've all wanted to see. And, for six years, it's a fight we've been callously denied.

But, while some critics have suggested it's a bout past its sell-by-date, Mayweather disagrees. In fact, like fine wine, it's a contest he believes has just gotten better—and more valuable—with age.

“Everything in life is about timing," he said at an open media workout in April. "I have no regrets that this fight didn’t take place five years ago. I didn’t think it was that big then, but it continued to get bigger and bigger. Not just in boxing, but outside of the sport. Pacquiao has continued to grow outside of the sport. We didn’t need to rush anything."

Rush they certainly did not. What follows is a brief history of this epic contest, one that finally appears ready to take place.

May 2007

Mayweather defeats Oscar De La Hoya to become boxing's leading man. The split-decision victory sets pay-per-view records and establishes Mayweather as the sport's premier villain, thanks to the groundbreaking HBO reality series 24/7.

June 2008

Mayweather announces his retirement from the sport:

"I have decided to permanently retire from boxing. This decision was not an easy one for me to make as boxing is all I have done since I was a child. However, these past few years have been extremely difficult for me to find the desire and joy to continue in the sport."

December 2008

The throne doesn't remain unoccupied for long. Pacquiao stakes his claim with his own dominant win over De La Hoya.

May 2009

Mayweather ends his abrupt retirement and announces a return to boxing. The announcement, not so coincidentally came on the same day Pacquiao fought Ricky Hatton, stealing some of his new rival's thunder.

September 2009

Despite a nearly two-year absence from the ring, Mayweather again lays claim to the title of pound-for-pound best by dispatching future Hall of Famer Juan Manuel Marquez. 

Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach, however, is not impressed, telling the media: "Floyd can't break an egg; he's fragile."

December 2009

The two sides come close to reaching an agreement for a March 2010 fight, but disagreements about drug testing protocols create a gulf that cannot be bridged.

"Mayweather pressed for blood testing even up to the weigh-in," Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum told the Grand Rapids Press (via ESPN's Dan Rafael). "He knew that Manny gets freaked out when his blood gets taken and feels that it weakens him. This is just harassment and, to me, just signaled that he didn't want the fight."

The year came to a close with Pacquiao suing both Mayweather and his father for defamation, claiming the two men accused him of using performance enhancing drugs. The suit was eventually settled out of court.

June 2010

Despite the rancor, negotiations continue, with Arum suggesting to Yahoo's Kevin Iole that the two sides were close to a deal. On the other side, Richard Schaefer from Golden Boy Promotions denies any negotiations are going on at all, suggesting all parties take a lie-detector test to prove who is telling the truth.

September 2010

The fight looks further away than ever when Mayweather releases a homophobic, racist and profanity-laden video making it clear exactly what he thought of his potential foe:

"

As soon as we come off vacation, we're going to cook that little yellow chump. We ain't worried about that. So they ain't gotta worry about me fighting the midget. Once I kick the midget ass, I don't want you all to jump on my d--k.

So you all better get on the bandwagon now. ... Once I stomp the midget, I'll make that mother f----r make me a sushi roll and cook me some rice.

 

"

July 2011

Arum tells reporters, "We have agreed in the Pacquiao camp to unlimited random testing done by a responsible, neutral organization. We don't believe USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) is a neutral organization."

The next day, Pacquiao's advisor Michael Koncz walks that statement back, suggesting the fighter had only agreed to blood tests two weeks prior to the fight.

January 2012

Mayweather offers Pacquiao a flat fee of $40 million to take the fight, rather than the 55/45 split of revenues the Filipino star seeks. Pacquiao declines.

June 2012

Pacquiao loses his first fight since 2005. Timothy Bradley wins in a controversial upset, but since most observers gave the contest to Pacquiao by wide margins, it isn't thought to damage a future Mayweather bout.

December 2012

Marquez knocks Pacquiao unconscious in the sixth round of their fourth contest. In a scary scene, the iconic star lays on the mat, perfectly still, for what felt like forever.

"I was scared," Pacquiao's' trainer Freddie Roach would later admit. "I didn't think he was dead—but it crossed my mind."

While the boxing world collectively mourned the loss of the superfight, Mayweather all but celebrated his rival's fall. For the first time since 2009, a fight between the two men lost momentum.

February 2013

Mayweather signs an exclusive deal with Showtime. Considering Pacquiao's deal with rival HBO, the fight seems further away than ever.

January 2014

After Mayweather mocks Pacquiao's alleged money problems, Pacquiao offers to fight Mayweather with all proceeds going to charity:

"Let’s see what his answer will be since he claimed I was desperate for money and I am willing to fight for nothing."

December 2014

Mayweather indicates he's ready to make the fight happen. He blames Arum for the fight not taking place.

"Manny Pacquiao, Bob Arum, you've been ducking this fight for years."

January 2015

Mayweather and Pacquiao meet face-to-face at a Miami Heat basketball game. Later that night, in Pacquiao's suite at the Provident Doral hotel, they have their first-ever extended conversation.

“I think that us meeting after the Miami Heat basketball game, meeting one-on-one, I feel that that is the reason why this fight happened," Mayweather would later say at the fight's opening press conference.

February 2015

Mayweather announces the fight on his Shots social-media account. The fight of the century, at long last, is on.

The Stakes

Isaac Brekken/Associated Press

There have been megafights before this bout, and there will be megafights after. But this, the first and perhaps only meeting of Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, is the defining fight of this era.

This is for all the marbles. The big one. The defining event of both men's careers. It is more than boxing, and more than sport. Bigger than you, I, or even us.

While the fight has garnered the bulk of the headlines since it was announced in February, it's just one front in a larger war for the heart and soul of the sport. The outcome could be pivotal in deciding who controls the business for years to come.

Mayweather versus Pacquiao isn't just about money and legacies—it's potentially nothing less than a fight for the future of boxing.

Mayweather is the showpiece of Al Haymon's ever-growing stable of prized fighters. According to SportsBusiness Daily, the man behind Premier Boxing Champions and the return of the sport to network television has hundreds of millions of other people's money and is using it to reinvent boxing as we know it, willing to lose big to gain in the long run:

"

As he laid out his plan, which would include not only NBC but other broadly distributed networks, it became clear that Haymon’s company might have to bleed upward of $100 million — and perhaps two or three times that much — as it built a brand and an audience, a proof-of-concept phase that would then enable him to cash in on the rights fees that continue to trend upward across sports.

"

It's a power play to take over the sport. And make no doubt—Mayweather’s success and loyalty is an essential part of that.

Across the battlelines drawn firmly in the sand, stands Bob Arum, his promotional company, Top Rank, and by proxy, HBO. Pacquiao has been with both Top Rank and HBO for years. With their combined guidance and promotional clout, he's become the second-biggest star in the world of boxing. 

Top Rank, with Golden Boy promotions floundering and upstarts like Jay Z failing to make even the slightest impact on the scene, serves as the only serious competitor to Al Haymon's hegemony.

Unlike the fight itself, where the bulk of the pressure falls on Mayweather's narrow shoulders, Top Rank's future depends heavily on Pacquiao. A devastating loss could irrevocably damage his drawing power and leave HBO in a lurch with no clear stars capable of carrying major pay-per-view events.

Haymon's deep pockets and deeper fighter roster will allow him to weather a Mayweather loss. For Top Rank, the stakes are much higher. In this chess match, Pacquiao is the queen—Top Rank’s best and most powerful piece left on the board. But most of Arum’s other powerful pieces are long gone. Haymon has both of his rooks, his bishops and even his knights remaining. 

If Manny loses, especially if he loses big, this could hasten the demise of the sport’s traditional business model—for better or worse.

The Undercard

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The greatest boxing pay-per-view event of all time is headlined by a clash of two future Hall of Famers. It's been compared to the greatest fights ever. For $99.95 in high definition, it had better live up to that advanced billing.

But before the two living legends step into the ring, there’s an entire card of action for fans to enjoy. Two of these undercard bouts will be televised in their entirety live during the pay-per-view broadcast. 

126 Pounds: Leo Santa Cruz (29-0-1, 17 KOs) vs. Jose Cayetano (17-3, 8 KOs) 

In 2013 Leo Santa Cruz seemed primed for something special, defeating former world champion Alexander Munoz, winning a belt at 122 pounds against the well-regarded Victor Terrazas and defeating Cesar Seda to defend his world title. He seemed destined for real stardom, and his first bout of 2014 (a unanimous-decision win over multi-division belt holder Cristian Mijares) only reinforced that.

Then, strangely, it all came to a halt. His next two fights were against divisional non-factors for reasons no one can really explain. Just over a year after making it look easy against Mijares, Santa Cruz seems almost forgotten.

Placing Santa Cruz on the undercard of one of the most significant fights of all time would seem to be a good way to redirect that trend, but his management appears willing to take no chances. Committed to being the punching bag for Santa Cruz's big opportunity?

Jose Cayetano.

Wait, who?

Even ardent fans of the sweet science would be hard-pressed to recognize him or the three people who've beaten him. Watching some of his most recent bout, a decision loss to Enrique Bernache, Cayetano seems to have porous defense, flat feet and a propensity to change stance between orthodox and southpaw in the middle of rounds. 

You can’t blame a guy like Cayetano for taking the opportunity of a lifetime. But he doesn't belong in the ring with someone like Santa Cruz, especially coming off a loss in February to the equally unheralded Bernache.

Can Cayetano win? He will be in the ring, so he could. Santa Cruz could injure his shoulder or twist an ankle. Perhaps a cut could stop the fight? He might hit Cayetano when he’s down or foul him repeatedly. None of that is likely to happen. But it might.

That said, this is a clear mismatch, too much of one to even count as much of a showcase fight for Santa Cruz. Here's hoping his next fight will be a meaningful contest against Abner Mares or Gary Russell Jr. Too many more opponents like Cayetano could render him largely irrelevant to fight fans—regardless of the platform on which he’s fighting them.

126 Pounds: WBO Featherweight Champion Vasyl Lomachenko (3-1, 1 KO) vs. Gamalier Rodriguez (25-2-3, 17 KOs)

Much has been written elsewhere about Vasyl Lomachenko’s amateur career, his startling 396-1 record and his meteoric rise to fame. In only his second pro fight, Lomachenko came up just short of winning a world title belt against Orlando Salido and defeated Gary Russell Jr. to win a vacant strap in his very next contest. 

He's good. And he's not alone.

Following the fall of the Iron Curtain, the boxing world has been flooded with Eastern European and Central Asian fighters looking to score big in the pro ranks. While many great talents have emerged, few have attained any real degree of stardom in the United States.

Though Gennady Golovkin is close and Andrew Golota had his moments with Polish-American fans, the U.S has yet to see a single one of these Communist block fighters become a major box-office draw. You could make a reasonable argument, in fact, that the most famous boxer from that part of the world is still Ivan Drago.

Lomachenko is among those trying to change that. With his slick defense, solid stamina, reasonable power and excellent punch selection, Lomachenko looks very much like the goods. He's talented enough, in fact, to make you wonder what exactly a title defense against Gamalier Rodriguez is supposed to do for Lomachenko? 

As is often the case in boxing, the "why" is nebulous and always changing. The fight that makes sense is against fellow Top Rank featherweight Nicholas Walters. Walters has devastating punching power and had a star-making HBO performance last October against Nonito Donaire.

Top Rank, in a rational world, would push to make a fight between the two. It did not. Rational action in boxing is the exception rather than the rule.

The winner of such a fight could be propelled to legitimate stardom. On paper, both men seem to be capable of moving up multiple weight classes. Many good fights could be made with either, fights that have box-office potential, thanks to an international flavor.

But to be a fan of boxing is to learn to be pessimistic. It is a defense mechanism to prevent hope from being painfully crushed again and again. And so we will likely see the first of many largely meaningless appearances from one of the sport's greatest talents.  

Instead of Walters, he'll face Rodriguez, last seen on English language TV losing a six-round decision to former prospect and now professional opponent David Rodela. He’s rugged, he does have some talent and he will probably try hard, but it is tough to imagine what he can do to win the fight.

In fact, when looking at Lomachenko’s official pro record, even considering fights in the quasi-professional World Series of Boxing, there’s a serious argument that Rodriguez may be the worst boxer Lomachenko has faced without headgear.

The biggest show in modern boxing history deserves better.

Odds and Prediction

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Odds (per Odds Shark on April 28, 2015)

Mayweather (-225)

Pacquiao (+175)

Though Mayweather opened up as a huge favorite, the smart money came in hard and fast on Pacquiao, reflecting what seems to be a consensus among savvy bettors that this fight is closer than it may appear to most casual fans.

"From when the fight was first announced, we've seen unprecedented line movement," betting expert Lou Moretti from SportsbookReview.com said. "Mayweather opened at about a -330 favorite, and within a week the odds had dropped dramatically. In a normal boxing match, the odds wouldn't move much until the week of the fight."

The fight includes a number of interesting proposition bets, allowing fans to predict everything from when the fight will end to how many pay-per-views will be sold. The unprecedented interest will help guarantee Mayweather and Pacquiao won't be the only ones getting rich during fight weekend.

"I would say over $100 million will be bet on these fights online," Moretti said. "Easily. It's safe to say this is the biggest boxing match in history from a betting perspective. Compared to a normal boxing match, UFC event, the volume is infinitely higher."

Prediction

So, what happens in the ring on May 2? What happens early is much easier to call than what happens late.

Manny Pacquiao will almost certainly come out aggressively, winning many early rounds through sheer work rate alone. Mayweather is often a slow starter, and when facing opponents who have fast hands, he usually needs longer to gauge their speed and timing.

When he does, the straight right hands will begin to land. Mayweather will circle off the ropes in the middle rounds, landing left hooks and lead rights, tying up at will, thanks to lenient referee Kenny Bayless, and stifling Pacquiao’s offense. As the fight goes on, Pacquiao will get more desperate and rougher. He will try and wear out Mayweather by pushing forever forward.

It won't be enough. Not quite.

Mayweather by Unanimous Decision (cards ranging from 117-111 to 115-113) in a fight not quite close enough to warrant an immediate rematch.

Jonathan Snowden covers combat sports for Bleacher Report.