Mayweather vs. Pacquiao Highlights: Reserved Pac-Man Made Fight Easy for Money

Manny Pacquiao was supposed to be the biggest test yet for the immaculate undefeated record of Floyd Mayweather Jr.

The Filipino was supposed to have the requisite intensity and accuracy to occasionally breach Money’s unyielding defensive structure. He was supposed to hurry and hassle Floyd like nobody else has.

But Pac-Man was uncharacteristically reserved from the off in their Las Vegas showdown, allowing Mayweather to pick up a landslide victory on the scorecards. As such, highlights were scarce over the 12 rounds.

Of course, we were always going to see Manny rein in his trademark aggression here. He’s an experienced fighter and would have been acutely aware of the talent of his opponent. But there was no tempo to any of his early work.

As Dan Wetzel of Yahoo noted during the bout, the Filipino couldn’t afford to go behind early in the fight:

But Money stung Pacquiao with a couple of big rights early on, and they seemed to plant a seed of hesitancy in Manny’s mind. However, Round 4 saw the Filipino come roaring back, as he illustrated all the aforementioned traits required to get the better of Mayweather.

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It was a round that should have been the blueprint for Pacquiao for the reminder of the fight. He cut the ring off with much more purpose, landed some clean shots after subtle feints and got out of range sharply to prevent any Mayweather counterpunches.

As noted by Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated, the Filipino underdog followed that up with a similar display in the sixth:

But that was as good as it got for Pacquiao, as Mayweather took over in the latter stages. As soon as Money landed a couple of solid rights in Round 7, Pac-Man was back into a hesitant mode, and as the pace naturally slowed, Mayweather floated around the wing, firing off punches seemingly at will.

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As noted by British super middleweight champion Paul Smith, Floyd was making it look easy in there by the end of the bout:

Mayweather laid the foundation of that late dominance early on, though. There was always a danger that Pacquiao would struggle if he was forced to chase this fight, and while some reserved early tactics are only natural in such a massive occasion, the controlled aggression that has been a hallmark of Manny’s arsenal came too late.

It seems as though there may have been some factors that prevented Pacquiao from being at his best here, however. The Filipino claimed he had an injury coming into the fight, per BBC Sport, but Mayweather insisted afterward that he was simply too good for his opponent on the night, per AudioBoom:

Indeed, the American also claimed he was suffering from the wear and tear of a training camp before the bout, but as he always does, he found a way to get the job done, per Dan Roan of BBC:

Reflecting on the bout, while his bank account will be bristling after this unfathomably lucrative occasion, Manny will be hugely disappointed by the tempo with which he began the fight. He was far too cautious, and although he was right to be wary of Floyd’s rapier-like counters, Pacquiao was always going to have to take some shots if he was going to get over the line.

Only he will know quite how much the injury hampered him on the night, and credit must also go to Mayweather for another clinic in defensive, technical boxing. But fully fit or otherwise, Pacquiao let the opportunity to crown a distinguished career with an iconic triumph slip through his fingers.