Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao finally boxed tonight, and we now have 36 minutes of evidence that this very boring fight needed to happen several years ago for it to have meant anything. Outside of a square punch Pacquiao landed in the fourth round, he never really seemed to threaten a Mayweather victory.
Floyd fought a Floyd fight, scoring on jabs and counters, with Pacquiao connecting on only 81 punches over 12 rounds. There was no blood, no bruises, and no real intrigue. When Floyd wasn’t ducking—and mostly he was ducking or laying illegal headlocks onto Manny—he was hitting just enough of his own to secure the victory.
Maybe all this happens again in eight months, considering the amount of money there is to be made in a rematch. But the fight that was supposed to save boxing probably turned even more casual fans away from the sport.