Mayweather vs. Pacquiao Replay: TV Schedule for Repeat of Money's Win
For those of you who avoided the countless bars, hotels, parties and other venues that played Saturday night's fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, you're in luck: HBO and Showtime will be replaying the match at 9 p.m. ET on Saturday.
| Date | Time (ET) | Networks |
| Saturday, May 9 | 9 p.m. | HBO and Showtime |
For those of you who watched the fight or simply have no free time Saturday and would like the results spoiled, what follows is a breakdown of what can only be described as one of the most disappointing megafights in recent memory.
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Sorry, I probably shouldn't call it a fight. It was a Mayweather boxing match, which means it was the polar opposite of what casual fans tuning in Saturday night probably expected.
After Pacquiao started out strong—I had the score even through the first four rounds—Mayweather did what he always does, systematically picking apart his opponent until he was left looking like a borderline amateur.
The CompuBox stats are all you need. Mayweather landed 67 more punches and threw six more than Pacquiao.
The former result was expected. Mayweather's style lends itself to smart, high-percentage looks that make his metrics soar. The latter was proof positive of how Mayweather systematically defeated Pacquiao, rendering one of the most powerful pound-for-pound punchers into a hollowed-out shell.
“I outboxed him,” Mayweather said, per John Eligon of The New York Times. “I wasn’t getting hit with a lot of shots until I sat right there in the pocket. We did what we had to do tonight.”
Of course, Pacquiao's camp would have you believe he was thoroughly outboxed due to injury rather than skill level.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told ESPN.com that Pacquiao fought despite having the "the same [injury] as the one Kobe Bryant had." Bryant underwent season-ending surgery on his rotator cuff earlier this season, an injury with debilitating consequences for a boxer or basketball player.
The Pacquiao camp also claims the Nevada State Athletic Commission denied his request for an anti-inflammatory shot before the fight.
It's turned into a he-said, he-said situation. Pacquiao says the paperwork was properly submitted. The NSAC says there was no injury on the pre-fight sheets, which forced them by rule to deny Pacquiao the shot.
"We filled it out but also I'm so disappointed because for the first time in my boxing career, more than 20 years, they hold my vitamins, they hold my water (from) the dressing room. This is new," Pacquiao told Ryan Songalia of Rappler.
In what might be the biggest coincidence in modern history, Pacquiao claims his shoulder began showing wear during a fourth-round flurry that was by far his most dominant round. Without his right, Pacquiao claims Mayweather was able to pounce on an obviously damaged version of himself.
"My rate of my performance was only at 60 percent. Sixty percent because my mind wanted to do it, but it was outbalanced because I was only relying on my left," Pacquiao told Songalia.
To be fair, neither you nor I have any idea how much pain Pacquiao was in Saturday. He could have been slightly sore or feeling a way that would have normal folks doubling over in pain.
But even if we take Pacquiao's comments at face value, the all-out effort to get the injury out there feels more like positioning for a rematch than anything.
Anyone with basic deductive reasoning could see the rematch writing on the wall. Mayweather agreed to fight Pacquiao with two bouts remaining on his Showtime contract, after which he says he plans to retire.
"My last fight is in September, then it's time for me to hang it up," Mayweather said, per SI.com. "You know, I'm almost 40 years old now, I've been in the sport 19 years, I've been world champion for 18 years, and I'm truly, truly thankful and I'm blessed."
Mayweather was guaranteed a $100 million check on Saturday, which he showed to reporters after the fight. He'll make more once the pay-per-view numbers come in, maybe so much as doubling that number.
The previous record for largest guaranteed purse, which also belonged to Money, was $41.5 million. Are we really so naive to think someone like Mayweather, perhaps the most extravagant star we have in sports today, would fight the final bout of his career while missing out on potentially another $100 million?
Of course not.
Mayweather's going to go out in the biggest way possible. Who else other than Pacquiao, who remains the second-most popular fighter in the world, would be able to generate even generally equivalent buzz?
Keith Thurman is wildly talented and worthy of the shot, but he is known by exactly zero people outside the boxing world. Amir Khan would get a ton of buzz, but he's also the dude who was knocked out by Danny Garcia and lost to Lamont Peterson.
There is no perfect answer. A rematch against Pacquiao, with his camp going on the offensive about his injury, is the biggest financial windfall on the table for either fighter.
Maybe Pacquiao goes under surgery and the fight is built around his road to redemption. Maybe Mayweather talks to Showtime, which has him booked for September but will agree to give him some extra time to provide a proper promotional build.
The harsh reality is that more people would tune in for Mayweather-Pacquiao II than any other combination of fighters. The sour taste in everyone's mouth would mean smaller numbers all around, but nowhere near the cut they'd take against a lesser opponent.
Floyd's 38 and is getting out after this fight. Manny's 36 and has 65 professional fights on his resume. The two will meet again—even if it goes down like a spoonful of medicine.
Follow Tyler Conway on Twitter @tylerconway22.
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