Mayweather vs. Pacquiao Results: Money Shouldn't Be Criticized for Fight Outcome

A basic part of any referee's pre-fight instructions is to "protect yourself at all times." A fighter who doesn't take that injunction seriously doesn't belong in the ring. 

But it's a strange sort of irony that a fighter who follows that instruction too closely and does too good of a job at protecting himself can almost guarantee that he'll experience a backlash from the fans. A fighter who manages to avoid taking punishment can bank on them criticizing him as "boring." 

Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s unanimous-decision victory over Manny Pacquiao last Saturday looked pretty much exactly like we could have expected it to look. It looked like the vast majority of Mayweather's previous 47 fights.

He used brilliant defense and ring generalship to make himself nearly untouchable. He used sharpshooter counters to outscore his opponent by a wide margin, and ultimately, the fight was not even close. 

It certainly lacked the excitement of Ray Leonard coming from behind to TKO Tommy Hearns or Hearns going to war for three rounds with Marvin Hagler. It won't go down in history like the "Thrilla in Manila" between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. 

But it's not like Mayweather was an unknown quantity coming into this fight who was misrepresented to the public. He's got a long track record, and Saturday night, he fought the kind of fight he has always fought. He won once more, as he always has. 

It was on Pacquiao's shoulders to make the fight exciting because that's the kind of fight he needed to create if he wanted to win. But ultimately, the Filipino great just couldn't physically come through. 

If Pacquiao had managed to more consistently close the distance or if Mayweather's legs had faded late, then they would have treated us to a more exciting fight. But that's not the way it played out.

Given the huge pre-fight hype, a certain feeling of letdown and disappointment is understandable. Oscar De La Hoya's post-fight tweet no doubt resonated with many boxing fans:

I will readily agree that it would have been a lot more fun if the biggest boxing match in a generation had also been one of the most exciting. But that isn't the way it played out. 

So do fans have a right to feel disappointed? Sure. 

But do they have a right to feel like they were cheated? Absolutely not. A boxing match is an unscripted event, and so long as both men are making an honest effort to win the fight, they are fulfilling their obligations. 

Mayweather doesn't owe any apologies to anybody for fighting and winning in exactly the same manner he has been fighting and winning for years. The fact that people were paying $100 to watch the bout on pay-per-view doesn't mean the man was obligated to subject himself to unnecessary head trauma from an elite boxer like Pacquiao. 

As Bleacher Report's Jonathan Snowden tweeted:

"

Mayweather doesn't owe you his longterm health and he doesn't and shouldn't be expected to give up a competitive advantage for your pleasure

— Jonathan Snowden (@mmaencyclopedia) May 4, 2015"

I'm not claiming fans are obligated to enjoy Mayweather's style. People are going to be excited by whatever excites them. It's worth noting, though, that Mayweather has managed to become the pay-per-view king while fighting this way. 

Still, to a large degree, Mayweather proves George Foreman's great line that "boxing is like jazz" because "the better it is, the less people appreciate it." 

But people who consider themselves sincere fans of the sport should at least appreciate what Mayweather is able to do even if they don't completely enjoy it. And so-called fans who are attacking Mayweather as "a coward" are showing a complete lack of respect for the sport. 

No man who makes his living climbing into the ropes with other world-class prizefighters is a coward.

And avoiding the punches of a world-class prizefighter is an astonishingly hard thing to do. Mayweather has been one of the best ever at doing it. That alone makes him an all-time great.