PREVIEW: Mayweather v Pacquiao: Fight of the Century | Gallery - Celebrities choose Money or Pac | Gallery - How to spend $100m like Floyd Mayweather | Gallery - Boxing Ring Girls
Who: Floyd “Money” Mayweather vs Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao
What: The Fight of the Century with Mayweather’s WBA (Super) & WBC welterweight titles and Pacquiao’s WBO welterweight belt on the line.
When: Sunday, May 3 in Australia and New Zealand. Live broadcast of the undercard starts at 11am (AEST) with the main bout expected to get underway at 1pm.
Where: The MGM Grand – Las Vegas
I can watch it on: Main Event
Odds from Sportsbet:
Mayweather: $1.48
Pacquiao: $2.80
Who are these blokes?
Floyd Mayweather Jr. is the undefeated loud-mouth American who flaunts his wealth and proclaims his greatness on social media. Outstanding boxer though.
Pacquiao is a humble southpaw (left-hander) who is a congressman in his native Philippines.
Below: Mayweather and Pacquiao at the fight's press conference (Getty).
Age:
Mayweather: 38
Pacquiao: 36
At the same age, Muhammad Ali was already showing signs of Parkinsons and lost his last two professional bouts. George Foreman was tipping the scales at close to 140kg and Mike Tyson was busy losing his last two fights to a couple of nobodies.
Height:
Mayweather: 1.73m (5ft 8)
Pacquiao: 1.69m (5ft 6.5)
Weight:
The welterweight limit is 147lbs – or 66.7kg.
Mayweather has won titles in five divisions ranging from super featherweight (130lbs, 59kg) to super welterweight (154lbs, 69.9kg). Pacquiao has won titles in eight divisions from flyweight (112lbs, 50.8kg) to super welterweight.
Below: Antonio Margarito after Pacquiao beat him up (Getty).
Records:
Mayweather: 47-0 (26KOs)
Pacquiao: 57-5-2 (38KOs)
Last time they fought:
Mayweather: Beat Marcos Maidana by unanimous decision in September last year.
Pacquiao: Defeated the hopelessly outclassed Chris Algieri by unanimous decision in November 2014.
Last losses:
Mayweather: Is undefeated as a pro. His last loss was in the semi-finals of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics to Bulgarian Serafim Todorov.
Pacquiao: His last loss was a devastating sixth round knock out to Juan Manuel Marquez in December 2012.
They’re undoubtedly the best boxers of their generation – they’d be the best of a few other generations too. Fight fans have been clamouring for this match-up for about six years. It’s the equivalent of a World Cup final, the Super Bowl, the Masters, Wimbledon and the Tour de France – combined.
What the winner walks away with:
Bragging rights as the best fighter of this generation….and a custom-made, emerald encrusted $1million belt made by the WBC.
A Close-Up to the Majestic WBC Emerald Belt for #MayPac! Do you like it? #WBC #GreenBelt pic.twitter.com/pQdOFobAWf
— World Boxing Council (@WBCBoxing) April 24, 2015Reason to watch:
It's the biggest sporting event of the year and will go down as a "where were you when?" moment in sporting history. Two masters of their art going at it to decide once and for all which one of them is the best.
Reason to turn away:
They should've fought five years ago and they're both going downhill. It's not the fight it should have been. Plus they want you to fork out $60 (AU) to watch and it could be over in less than a minute!
The trainers:
Mayweather is trained by his father, Floyd Sr, himself a former title contender. The elder Mayweather was "Money's" first trainer but wound up in prison when his life hit the skids and he turned to a life of crime and drugs. Sr's brother, Roger, trained Floyd for a few years when father and son had a falling out, but it's all been patched up now.
Mayweather is trained by Hall of Fame mentor Freddie Roach out of the Wild Card Boxing Club in LA. While Mayweather is known as the biggest trash-talker in a sport full of them, it's been Roach who has done most of the smack-talking in the prefight build-up.
Below: Mayweather punches Diego Corrales in one of “Money’s” most impressive wins (Getty).
Who’s the ref?
Kenny Bayless: A 64-year old veteran of over 100 title bouts including five Mayweather fights and seven Pacquiao bouts. He’ll earn about $25,000 – roughly the same as Mayweather’s mouthguard costs…
Still tickets going around?
Lol. There were only about 500 made available to the public and they were snapped up in 60 seconds.
Why Mayweather will win:
He’s a defensive genius and throws punches with precision and perfect timing. He's too calculated, doesn't get caught up in the moment and is too patient for the sometimes reckless Pacquiao. Pacman won’t be able to catch him, but it could be a dull fight for the casual fan.
Why Pacquiao will win:
He’s got the fastest fists in the world, the hardest left in boxing and Mayweather has had troubles against southpaws in the past. He’s the only man on the planet capable of stopping Mayweather and his whirlwind pursuit will result in the most exciting fight ever.
Bold prediction:
Mayweather by decision.
Below: Mayweather’s $25,000 mouthguard. Apparently it has $100 bills stuffed inside it…
Have they fought the same guys?
A couple of them. Here’s a few.
Oscar de la Hoya – Mayweather: Won a 12 round Unanimous Decision in 2007. Pacquiao: Won 8rd Technical Knock-Out in 2008.
Miguel Cotto – Mayweather: Won a 12rd UD in 2012. Pacquiao: Won 12rd TKO in 2009.
Shane Mosley – Mayweather: Won a 12rd UD in 2010. Pacquiao: Won a 12rd UD in 2011.
Juan Manuel Marquez – Mayweather: Won a 12rd UD in 2009. Pacquiao: Has fought Marquez four times for two wins, a loss and a draw.
Ricky Hatton – Mayweather: Won 10rd TKO in 2007. Pacquiao: Won 2nd Rd KO in 2009.
Mayweather sends Hatton reeling.
Pacquiao knocks Hatton out cold.
By the numbers:
$180 million (US): The latest estimate of how much Mayweather will earn – about $5million per minute of boxing if it goes the distance. Pacquiao will earn $120 million.
5: Number of fights since Mayweather earned a knockout – a dubious 2011 win over Victor Ortiz.
9: Number of fights since Pacquiao last stopped someone – Miguel Cotto in 2009.
4 million: Estimated number of pay-per-view buys the fight will get in the US. The current record is 2.4million for Mayweather-De La Hoya.
5.8 million: Number of twitter followers Mayweather has. Pacquiao has 1.8 million.
$6.35: What Sportsbet are paying for Pacquiao to win by KO or TKO. Mayweather is paying $8.10
$41,000: How much one punter forked out on StubHub for a single ticket.
Early look at #MayweatherPacquiao tickets, one seat sells for $41K on @StubHub http://t.co/fwOGxaFi8W pic.twitter.com/dJEWhKsujh
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 28, 2015Undercard:
Televised –
Leo Santa Cruz vs Anthony Settoul
WBO Featherweight Champion Vasyl Lomachenko vs Gamalier Rodriguez
Un-televised –
Jesse Hart vs Mike Jimenez
Christopher Pearson vs Said El Harrak
Andrew Tabiti vs Anthony Caputo Smith
Brad Solomon vs Adrian Granados
Other stuff (mainly if you don’t know too much about boxing)
The fight is scheduled for 12 three-minute rounds with a one minute rest in between.
Boxing scoring is based on a “10-point system”. The fighter who wins the round gets 10 points and the other bloke gets nine. A fighter is deducted one point each time he is knocked down.
A fighter can also be deducted one point for a foul, including head-butting, biting and punching below the belt.
Three judges score each fight independently of each other and if the bout goes the distance, their scorecards are totalled and read out.
If all judges agree, we have a “unanimous decision”. If two judges agree, it’s called a “split decision”. There are many other outcomes, the most common of which is a draw (each judge calls it a draw. Or, to use this fight as an example: One judge thinks Pacquiao won, another thinks Mayweather won and the third has a draw) a “majority draw” (two judges score it even).
A knockout occurs when one fighter hits the canvas and can't get up by the count of ten.
A technical knock out happens when the referee, the fighter or his corner stop the fight.
The judges for the fight are Dave Moretti (Las Vegas), Burt A. Clements (Reno) and Glenn Feldman (Connecticut).
Drug testing was one of the reasons this fight wasn’t made years ago, but the fighters are undergoing USADA style testing for this one.
Each fighter will wear eight ounce gloves. Mayweather will use Grant gloves and Pacquiao will use Reyes. Both Mayweather and Pacquiao have had controversies about gloves in the past.