Floyd Mayweather Fight: Scorecards Reflect Money's Dominance over Manny Pacquiao

Manny Pacquiao may believe he won his fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr., but the judges’ scorecards and the stats paint a different picture of the fight.

Mayweather unified the WBA, WBC and WBO welterweight titles in Las Vegas after earning a unanimous points decision from the three judges at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

There was also little doubt in the judges’ minds as to the dominance of Mayweather’s performance. Glenn Feldman and Burt Clements both scored the fight 116-112 in Mayweather’s favour. Dave Moretti, meanwhile, gave Pacquiao only two rounds, scoring it 118-110.

Those verdicts, though, did not match Pacquiao’s assessment of the fight, as the Filipino felt he had done enough to merit the win, per Sky Sports: “Well it’s a good fight, I thought I won the fight. He didn’t do nothing, he moved away. I got him many times with solid punches. I thought I won the fight.”

Eric Jamison/Associated Press

The 36-year-old did receive some support from Rodney Berman in his claim that the fight should have gone his way. The Chief Executive Officer of Golden Gloves felt that the scoring was incorrect, per Marc Lewis of Eyewitness News. Berman said, “It was very lopsided and it must be justice to Pacquiao to win 118 and it is very clear that he won some rounds clearly."

But, when you look at the stats of the fight, there is plenty of evidence to support the official verdict that Mayweather was a decisive winner.

He threw six more punches than Pacquiao, who was well down on his usual tally of somewhere between 600 and 700, per The Associated Press via CBC Sports. While that stat in itself is not a specific demonstration of Mayweather’s dominance, the fact he landed 34 per cent of his punches compared to Pacquiao’s percentage of 19 is.

When you break those stats down a bit further, you can see why Mayweather was given such a comprehensive victory. He landed 25 per cent of his jabs compared to just 9 per cent from Pacquiao. In the power punching stat, Mayweather landed almost half his 168 attempts, but Pacquiao only connected on a quarter.

John Locher/Associated Press

The outcome of the fight was decided in the first few rounds. Pacquiao was unable to trouble Mayweather in the opening exchanges or unleash a barrage of punches. That enabled Money to control the contest as he picked up the first three rounds.

Pacquiao did respond in Rounds 4 and 6 as he put Mayweather on the ropes and caught his opponent with a couple of good shots. But he never looked likely to put Mayweather on the canvas, and that was the only way he was going to win once the pattern of the fight was set.

Judges Feldman and Clements also gave Pacquiao Rounds 9 and 10, but those rounds could easily have gone Mayweather’s way, as they did with the other judge, Moretti.

While it is fair to say that Mayweather never looked likely, or perhaps even that interested, in knocking Pacquiao out, he was the slightly busier of the two boxers. And, with his punches proving to be much more accurate than his opponent’s, it was no surprise the verdict went his way in the manner it did.

Listen to Mayweather's thoughts on the fight:

He now plans to have one more fight in September before retiring, per Sports Illustrated. That looks unlikely to be a rematch with Pacquiao, according to his father, via Greg Beacham of The Associated Press:

With Mayweather’s last six fights all being settled on points, per BoxRec.com, whoever he meets in his farewell is likely to have to go the distance. Money always seems content to do just enough to get the verdict, and he is also too clever and experienced to be caught by a knockout blow.

Pacquiao now faces time off due to a shoulder injury suffered in the buildup to the fight, per Tim Dahlberg of AP, but he deserves at least one more fight. If he can recover fully from the shoulder problem, then he still has the punching power to ensure he won’t need to rely on the judges next time.