I’ve stopped watching boxing matches a few years ago. It has been getting obvious to me that these mega bucks extravaganzas are somehow or other fixed. In the first Lennox Lewis – Evander Holyfield fight, when the introduction of the boxers was being done, I realized that one was managed by HBO and the other Showtime (or such media orgs). Watching all the media hype, I exclaimed, “OMG, this is going to be a draw!” And I noticed how the fighters were pulling punches. When the decision was announced – a draw – I was not at all surprised. From then on, I got wary of these Super Fights.
I followed Pacquiao’s boxing career since his flyweight days. But his mega-bucks fights with bigger men like De La Hoya, Cotto and Margarito did not impress me. What impressed me was the genius of Roach to convince Pacquiao and the other boxers to fight at a “catch weight”. “Catchweight” Pacquiao demolished these fine boxers who had been drained of their energy by going down one or two or more weight divisions.
All fighters who are forced to lose a lot of weight before a fight usually lose their fights. They not only lose their kilos, they also lose their energies. Even Muhammad Ali lost when he had to lose so many pounds in so short a time, Pacquiao himself lost his flyweight crown when he had to get rid of so many kilos fast. In fact, he could not lose all those extra weight fast enough. He lost his WBC belt at the weigh-in when he went over the weight limit. I watched that fight on TV. Pacquiao was too weak. It looked like he could be felled down by a sudden gust of wind. Hence, I don’t think the catch weight fights are fair.
FIGHT OF THE CENTURY
I did not watch the last 3 or four fights of Pacquiao. But this time, even I got caught in the hullabaloo of the “Fight of the Century.” The media hype was tremendous. Even boxing legends George Foreman, Lennox Lewis and Bernard Hopkins agreed that this was going to be the “fight of the century”. And so did so many other boxing legends like the Golden Boy de la Hoya, Mike Tyson, Evander Holfield, etc.
There is talk of this being a Trilogy. This means that the fight could be fixed. I thought that Pacquiao would really give his all because only a Pacquiao win could guarantee a trilogy. If Mayweather wins, it would be very difficult to convince him to a rematch. I did not believe that Pacquiao would agree to fix the fight.
Well, the “fight of the century” turned out to be a big joke. But the joke’s on the boxing fans and viewing public. Pacquiao and Mayweather ended up at least ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS richer each after the “fight”.
FACEBOOK POSTS
Here are my Facebook posts on the subject:
Yesterday at 4:37pm · Edited ·
Hehehe. The “Fight of the Century” was a dud. Mayweather showed everyone he could run and clinch. And Pacquiao was fighting as if he were the odds-on favorite and that he could just cruise along, throw a few punches and win the fight.
The Pacquiao team must know that the only way to beat Mayweather was to knock him out or down for a few times. Maidana, in his first fight with Mayweather, won at least 7 rounds and threw more heavy punches than Mayweather yet he lost by a unanimous decision. As long as Mayweather is left standing, all the judges and referees and American announcers and their punches-counting computers would all declare Mayweather as the undisputed winner.
Next time, the fans will not be as enthusiastic anymore. Too bad. I thought Pacquiao was serious in defeating Mayweather. Oh well, he was just interested in the $80 Million he’d be getting. But he should beware because Ms. Kim Henares is not going to run away from him. On the contrary, the Taxwoman is going to run after him! #maypac
LOVE MATCH
Yesterday at 8:28pm · Edited ·
The senior Mayweather said it best when he told his son in the earlier rounds: “You are fighting as if you are afraid!” (paraphrase)
That fight cannot be a “Fight of the Century.” It’s not even the Fight of the Day. The Lomachenko – Rodriguez fight was a better boxing match than the choreographed Mayweather-Pacquiao love match (so many hugs and touch gloves!) .:( frown emoticon#maypac
RUNNER, NOT DANCER
Some Mayweather defenders say that the running was a mere strategy. It was part of an excellent fight plan. I disagree. I posted this comment on a nephew’s FB status:
Jamal Ashley Abbas In the ring, Muhammad Ali danced like a butterfly but stung like a bee. When he danced to evade the punches, it was clear that he did it as part of a strategy that included a lot of jabs and a killer 1-2 punch that usually followed an Ali Shuffle.
The case of the Mayweather-Pacman fight was different. Mayweather ran for dear life. As his father said to him during the break in the early rounds, “You fight as if you are afraid!” (paraphrase).
On the other hand, Pacquiao did not really go for a knock-out. His camp knew that Mayweather would run. They should have been ready for that. His camp would be impossibly naive to believe that Pacquiao could win the judges (and the Las Vegas Mafia) with a few power punches.
But then, I suppose all of this was choreographed to prepare everyone for the MayPac part 2.
SCORES REVERSED
Jamal Ashley Abbas shared Chris Cooke‘s photo.
Is this true? The judges scored in favor of the Red Corner. Isn’t Manny in the Red Corner? The Pacquiao camp should use the scorecard as basis for an official protest! #maypac
WE WERE HAD!
So, Pacquiao was injured? He was fighting the alleged world’s #1 pound-for-pound boxer and he thought he could handle him with an injured shoulder?! Hahaha. This only proves that the fight was fixed. It was already choreographed. An injured soldier would not have made any difference. OMG! In the words of the great Muhammad Ali when he learned that the promoters were getting the lion’s share of the revenues for the third Ali-Frazier fight: “(Hey, Joe), we were had!” The public was had, indeed!#maypac
Pacquiao dismayed at Nevada Commission for blocking injection
MANILA, Philippines – Filipino boxing icon Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao expressed his disappointment at the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) after he was…
ABS-CBNNEWS.COM|BY BY CAMILLE B. NAREDO, ABS-CBNNEWS.COM
COMPUBOX
OMG, why are the numbers manually written? Does that mean a computer did not count the punches? The judges counted the punches? How could they? How could any human count the punches and still be able to reasonably judge a fight?
And really, did people see that many punches thrown? Mayweather landed 81 Power Punches? Did anybody see them? I saw THREE, tops.
People should review the fight and prove the Falsity of these numbers.#maypac
Punch stats in ‘Fight of the Century’ show Mayweather swept it all
American boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr. successfully neutralized Filipino’s Boxing Champ Manny Pacquiao in their Fight of the Century’ with punch statistics…KICKERDAILY.COM
FAKE STATS
Nowadays, during fights, a “Compubox” gives out the statistics on punches thrown and landed and the number of power punches. By its name, I presumed the calculations were done by a computer software.
When I reviewed some of Mayweather’s fights, I noticed that the announcers kept on mentioning the stats from the Compubox. They also kept on harping the fact that Mayweather is the Compubox champion, as it were, since the compubox itself found it hard to count his punches.
In the first Mayweather – Maidana fight, Maidana was relentless in his fury against Mayweather in the first six or seven rounds. Maidana obviously was throwing more punches, esp. power punches. But the announcers kept on saying that according to the statistics, Mayweather threw more punches. That made me quite suspicious.
From the first round of the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight, I was shocked to hear the announcers claim that according to the Compubox, Mayweather threw and landed a lot more punches, including power punches. It was incredible! I didn’t see any power punch from Mayweather at all??!!
In the link above from KICKER DAILY.COM, the photo of the punch statistics from Compubox showed the numbers written manually, and not calculated by a computer. I was surprised. And then the article stated: “…with the punch statistics coming from the three judges disclosing the final tally…” I couldn’t believe it. The judges were the ones who counted the punches? Then they couldn’t possibly have judged the fight well. Nobody could tally the punches of both fighters and still see the fight for what it is. Incredible.
So I went to the Compubox website. It’s ABOUT page states: “The stats are tracked by two human operators with one operator tracking stats for each fighter. The operators are extensively trained to watch a fight differently than a normal fan would. Each operator concentrates on only one fighter and not the fight as a whole to accurately track the stats.”
So the Compubox statistics are not done by a computer but by humans. And of course, humans make errors, especially when they are paid to make errors.
A SCAM
From the looks of it, the fight was a scam. Before the fight, the American TV announcers were telling the public that MGM has now replaced Madison Square Garden as THE boxing arena. And that Mayweather considers MGM Grand as practically his home. His gym is nearby. And more importantly, the announcer said that it was Mayweather who made MGM Grand the top boxing venue. In fact, he said that Las Vegas was in the slump and it was Mayweather, through his fights, that propped up Las Vegas or the even the whole Nevada state. Thus, Las Vegas and Nevada owe much to Mayweather. And so it goes without saying that the Las Vegas mafia would not make it easy for anyone to win over Floyd “Money” Mayweather. He brings money to Vegas.
With all the media hype, I forgot that Pacquiao’s promoter is Bob Arum – a Las Vegas denizen who owns Top Rank promotions and is one of the biggest wheeler-dealers in boxing. He used to be Mayweather’s promoter and helped Mayweather’s meteoric rise to boxing super-stardom. With Arum and Mayweather doing the cooking, nothing truthful or even legitimate can come from it.
A friend commented on my “We Were Had!” post:
If there was anyone cheated here its the public who paid a lot for the fight. At least pacman will get his hundred million dollars
Another comment came from Mr. Buddy Cunanan, a cable TV talk show host and Georgia’s honorary consul. He wrote:
“Pacquiao was in on the fix from the start. I hope people see through this farce.” To which he added, “What a jackass!”
Postprandial Musings, 2.0 