Mayweather vs. Pacquiao Round by Round: Scorecard, Highlights from Money's Win

Floyd Mayweather Jr. easily beat longtime rival Manny Pacquiao by unanimous decision during Saturday's megafight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, providing fans with plenty of highlights on his way to scorecard domination.

Round after round, the undefeated pound-for-pound king was clearly the better fighter, and the final scorecard ultimately reflected it. MailOnline Sport shared the official verdict:

Let's have a look at some of the highlights and key moments of the long-awaited bout.

Early Rounds

Pacquiao was expected to come out firing right from the opening bell, but the underdog took a surprisingly tentative approach to the bout. The opening round saw both fighters feeling each other out, but Mayweather clearly had the upper hand with his jab and lead right.

Pac-Man looked slightly better in the second and landed his best punch of the fight up until that point, a good left hook, but overall, Mayweather was the one to find most success with his jab. The third round played out in a similar way, and Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated thought it was clear who was winning the fight:

Mayweather looked sharper and more engaged, and his reach was clearly hindering an overmatched Pacquiao, who had to resort to flinging himself forward in the center of the ring to close the distance, rather than routinely drive Mayweather back.

Round 4

Where Pacquiao was lunging far too much in the early rounds, he started using his jab far better in the fourth. A good straight left drove Mayweather into the ropes, allowing Pac-Man to showcase his hand speed and unleash his first real combination, via Business Insider:

Mayweather didn't look particularly worried, but the straight left certainly landed. Another right hook late in the round definitely won Pacquiao the round, as the crowd inside the MGM Grand started getting excited.

Round 5-6

The two split rounds five and six, with Mayweather re-establishing his jab and right-hand counter in the fifth and Pacquiao unleashing more flurries in the sixth.

Twice, it was the fighter taking control early in the round who dominated the rest of the way. Money lost control of the pace in the fourth, and he clearly wasn't planning on letting that happen again.

After the fight, he told reporters in the ring he felt he simply outclassed a very good fighter:

Pacquiao went back to the jab in the sixth, once again finding success in cutting off the ring and driving Mayweather into the ropes. He failed to keep up the pace for the duration of the round, but with half the fight still to be fought, it made sense for him to let off and focus on the next round.

Round 7-8-9

Three straight rounds of Pacquiao trying to be the aggressor but Mayweather easily controlling the pace with his superior reach. Money did a fantastic job of staying away from the ropes and fighting at the distance he preferred, frustrating Pacquiao with his ability to glide around the ring and avoid sticky situations.

Some―including Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach―would accuse Money of running from Pacquiao, via Top Rank Boxing, but Mayweather continued to score points with his jab and lead right and was simply the better fighter:

Pacquiao was losing round after round at this point, and by the time we got to the championship rounds, he clearly needed a stoppage to come away with a win.

Championship Rounds

Pacquiao managed to land one flurry in the 10th that may have won him the round, but outside of that, Mayweather continued to dominate. It even looked as if he was looking for the knockout early in the 11th before taking his foot off the gas and controlling the bout to the end.

CompuBox shared their final statistics of the fight, and it was clear Money had won the bout:

Pacquaio showed little urgency in the final round, and with most believing he needed a knockout to win, the decision not to push forward seemed odd.

He told reporters after the fight that he was winning on the scorecard, as Mayweather didn't engage enough to warrant the win, in his opinion:

The judges handed Mayweather a comfortable unanimous-decision victory, however, and based on how the fight played out, it's difficult to disagree.

It's also hard to gauge the potential of a rematch, with Mayweather showing the world Pacquiao simply couldn't deal with his particular brand of boxing. A new challenge seems like the wiser decision, with a potential fight against Amir Khan or Miguel Cotto likely on the horizon.

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