MDN Special Supplement (Fight of the Century)

Mindanao Daily NEWS Special Supplement

Editor: NELSON CONSTANTINO

Monday May 4, 2015

Pacquiao still thankful despite defeat to Floyd

By URIEL C. QUILINGUING of MindanaoStar

Mayweather was in no doubt about the result of the fight as he gestured to the crowd at the final bell.

AFTER losing in a unanimous decision to undefeated American Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr., Filipino boxing icon Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao said he remained thankful to God and the Filipino people for what he has been and where he is today.

In his Facebook wall, at pinlano para sa akin.

Emmanuel Dapidran Nanggaling po ako sa Pacquiao, he wrote that wala at napakalaking happened to him was bagay para sa ating mga “from nothing to some- Filipino na dinala ako thing,” hence he urged ng ating panginoon sa all Filipinos to be happy puntong ito,” Pacquiao for what he has achieved said. in boxing, the worldwide He said the blessings recognition on Filipino God showered on him and those who benefitted boxers.

“Ako po ay nagpa- from his boxing career pasalamat sa panginoon were more than enough, See thankful, page 7 kung ito po ang itinakda

Women, also affected by Pacman’s loss

By CHENG ORDONEZ Associate Editor

JAMPACKED. The Misamis Oriental Capitol Ground is jampacked with thousands of spectators yesterday watching Manny Pacquiao exchanging blows with Floyd Mayweather. Despite the loss of the Filipino boxing icon, the fans have expressed admiration to Pacquiao’s ferocity and determination to engage the slick American champion who danced away all night to steal the win via unanimous. photo by gerry lee gorit

NOT only men, but including women, were greatly affected by the unanimous decision loss of local hero Manny Pacquiao to American Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a lucrative fight dubbed as the Fight of the Century.

For Joanne Carlos of Kauswagan, Cagayan de Oro City, boxing will go down the drain if unfair decisions like this fight See women, page 7

DOWN BUT UNBOWED. Pacquiao leaves the arena dejected after losing the $300 million fight against Mayweather.

Rematch? Roach loves it

MANNY Pacquiao lost via unanimous decision on Sunday against the still unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr., but if it were up to Pacquiao’s coach Freddie Roach, his camp would like to do it again.

“We’d love to do it again,” said Roach at the postSee rematch, page 7

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Mayweather-Pacquiao nothing more than an epic scam

By Paul Newberry

We’ve been told this is one of the greatest sporting events of all time.

Maybe five to 10 years ago, but not now.

Floyd May weather vs. Manny Pacquiao is a matchup of two fighters past their prime looking to make one last massive score, assuming 3 million or so takers come along for the ride at a hundred bucks a pop on pay-per-view.

Epic?

Only in the sense that it might be the last hurrah for a once-great sport.

Promoter Bob Arum and his minions will try to tell you otherwise.

“It’s a credit to the sport of boxing that we’ve been able to put on such an event,” Arum said with a straight face.

Spoken like someone who’ll be pulling off his own version of “Ocean’s Eleven” Saturday night in Las Vegas, though this heist is completely legal and comes with an even bigger payoff — though not for boxing itself.

If the fight had happened when it should have, then we’d have seen two of the greatest boxers of this generation in the prime of their careers. That sort of bout could’ve pushed the sport forward, helped to lift it back up from the abyss it has languished in since the self-destruction of Mike Tyson.

Not this watered-down version, no matter how much they try to persuade us otherwise.

“It’s been a long road.

But we’re here now,” Mayweather said. “Everything is about timing.

We couldn’t choose a better time.”

No better time for the fighters, because it’s not a good time for me and you.

With both fighters winding down their careers — Mayweather is 38, Pacquiao 36 — the two acrimonious sides finally came together to milk their cash cows totally dry.

With that, we pause for a brief infomercial.

“This is a fight that the world can’t miss,” Mayweather said. “This is an unbelievable matchup. An action-packed fight.”

Now, back to reality, which provides nary a clue of this fight coming anywhere close to living up to the hype.

Over the last eight years, Mayweather (47-0) has been thoroughly unimpressive while winning just two of his 10 fights via knockouts. One of his victories during that span was by split-decision, two others by majority decision.

He’s a defensive specialist whose game plan will be

Comment: to slickly dodge most of Pacquiao’s once-fearsome punches, while delivering just enough blows himself to claim another decision.

Not that he should be overly concerned about Pacquiao’s power. The Filipino fighter (57-5-2) has looked rather ordinary while losing two of his last five fights.

Granted, one of those defeats was a joke of a decision in favor of Timothy Bradley. But the other was a brutal KO at the hands of Juan Manuel Marquez, who delivered a right that left Pac Man sprawled facefirst on the canvas, out cold. In fact, Pacquiao has gone more than five years without knocking anyone out, taking his last seven wins by decision.

The Vegas odds makers fully expect this bout to go to the scorecards.

R.J. Bell, a betting analyst who runs the Pregame. com website, set the overunder in the 12-round bout at 11.5 — in other words, will it last beyond the midway point of the final round. Bell reported Friday that bets were running nearly 3-to-1 in favor of the fighters making it to the final 90 seconds, with the odds of Mayweather scoring a knockout at a staggering 8-1. Pacquiao was the clear underdog in the fight but was given a slightly better chance of ending it early, his odds of scoring a knockout set at 5-1.

Chances are, these guys will dance around the ring for 36 minutes, Mayweather piling up the points while an increasingly desperate Pacquiao goes for a Hail Mary of a punch. There figures to be more action on the “Food Network” — and it won’t cost you $99.95.

Still not convinced?

Well, if you decide to play along with this charade, here’s what you can expect when it’s over: The fighters will come together for a hug, finally say some nice things about each other, then try to persuade us that it really was a great fight, maybe even one worthy of a rematch.

One last PR push before everyone heads to the bank to cash their obscene paychecks.

Then we can finish off the burial of a sport that gave us Johnson and Louis, Ali and Frazier, Leonard and Hagler.

Not epic at all.

Just a sad ending. (Paul Newberry is a national writer for The Associated Press.

Write to him at pnewberry@ ap.org or at www.twitter. com/pnewberry1963)

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THE CENTURY FIGHT! When I was young (!), I was really good at sports.

Handball, track and field, gymnastics on the horizontal bar/rings/mat. By the end of 1970s, I joined a sports publishing house in Berlin.

Sports has always been a part of my life. But I never belonged to boxing, though Germany had great world champions the like of Max Schmeling. That was once upon a time.

When I migrated to the Philippines, I had known this boxer named Manny Pacquiao. He is so electrifying and adorable that every time he fights, always almost everything stood still. The streets are emptied. Everybody are glued to their television sets watching him fight for the honor and glory of his countrymen.

And mind you, even the country’s crime rates come to a halt as it is said even

criminals and insurgents are watching him.

I had a chance to meet the guy personally during a Rotary convention in General Santos City several years ago. He is just a simple and a down-to-earth person contrary to his ferocity when inside the ring.

Since then, I became one of his avid fans.

While writing this piece, the fight, dubbed as The Fight of the Century is still ongoing.

Mayweather versus Pacquiao has taken six years in the making and boxing fans feared the fight would never happen. Now they’re licking their chops. One of those who’s looking forward to the fight is the boxer known all over as “The Greatest”--Muhammad Ali. In one of his tweets, Ali said: “Looking forward to @FloydMayweather vs. @ MannyPacquiao & wishing both the best of luck. Rum-

Have my say

Klaus Doring

ble, young men, rumble!”

Floyd Mayweather Jr., born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has learned to box as a child by his father.

His ring record remains unblemished at 47 wins, without a single loss. The 38-year-old Floyd has won world titles in five different weight classes, and is the number one pound-forpound boxer in the world.

Mayweather’s nickname isn’t “Money” for nothing.

He is named the number two top earners in the world among sportsmen, second to Tiger Woods. In this fight, Floyd is set to earn not less than $200 million from the purse and TV rights from pay-per-view.

This is equivalent to earning $4 million per minute in his 12 rounds encounter with Manny Pacquiao.

Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao is pretty much the antithesis of Mayweather.

The 36-year-old leftist from the Philippines measures 1.69 meters and boasts a record of 57 victories in 64 fights. He’s the only boxer in history to win world championships in eight different weight classes.

Good reason for his home country to honor him with a stamp.

Manny, who fought his way up, is hailed as a national hero by many Filipinos. For expats like me, I can only admire.

Stunned Cagayanons vent ire in social media for Pacquiao’s loss

By MARK FRANCISCO Staff Writer

FROM a self-styled “mega-fight of the century”, it condescended into the “hugot of the century.”

In an era when every major event is instantaneously created into a meme, Cagayanons, blinded by sheer patriotism, exploded last Sunday in social media to express their disbelief and frustration, sometimes in humor, at the loss of Manny Pacquiao against Floyd Mayweather. Never mind that Mayweather simply followed boxing’s rule book extensively by exhausting footwork and other defense strategies from the challenger Pacquiao’s power punches.

From hashtags such as #TheHuggerGames and #HugPaMore to mockeries like hug-for-a-cause and run-like-a-Mayweather, the Filipino’s penchant for humor despite adversities was clearly present in the Cagayanons yesterday.

For many, it was Mayweather’s constantly hugging Pacquiao and running away from him that irritated Pacquiao’s fans in CDO. Well it’s not actually hugging. In boxing parlance, it is called clinching. Clinching is allowed for boxers to hold on to their opponents while taking seconds of rest before eventually broken up by the referee. And it also buys time for the tired boxer. “Sa kada gakos niya kang Pacquiao, nakapahulay og kadyot

si Mayweather,” opined Michael Bustamante of Bombo Radyo Cagayan de Oro on air.

B oxing aficionados can totally understand that. But not the rest of the public. In less than 15 minutes after ring announcer Michael Buffer announced the winner, Facebook, Twitter and individual cellphone inboxes were awash with various jeers.

This remark from Ephra Magnaong of DepEd Region 10 might just sum it up: “Unfair judging, giving favor to someone who doesn’t like to box but just hug and run.”

Nationalism also played high among the emotions and biases of the spectators. At the provincial capitol grounds where Wedding Elements and Bella Vita mounted a free live viewing, people cheered every time Pacquiao cornered Mayweather. But they did not take into account that Mayweather also landed solid punches even as he was running from his opponent all that time.

At the end of the fight, the Compubox scored: Mayweather landed a total of 148 punches against Pacquiao’s 81.

This did not deter Cagayanons from rooting for Pacquiao.

From Rep. Rufus Rodriguez: “Cong. Manny should have been judged the winner. He landed more punches through fast combinations, he was

the aggressive fighter from start to finish and Mayweather was running away all the time who refused to mix it up with Manny.

Manny carried the fight with determination and dignity. The Philippine flag flew high during the fight and upheld our Filipino honor and pride. I am proud of our colleague Cong. Manny.”

From Councilor Alexander Dacer: “Walay suwerte but I admire Pacman for his greatness.”

From Councilor Candy Darimbang: “Pacman won the game. That’s the truth. I won’t elaborate.”

From her husband, LTFRB 10 director Mandangan Darimbang: “Biased! Pacman won it.”

From Lito Felicilda, DepEd CDO: “Manny plays with a heart but Mayweather plays with mind. So if you look at it, mind is over the heart.”

From Dr. Manny Jaudian, Phinma Education Network: “It was Manny Pacquiao who put the audience in nerve-exciting offense.”

From Maj. Avelino Presilda: “Dagan-dagan man si Mayweather.”

From Armina Andrade, Iligan City public high school teacher: “Pacman has the confidence to beat Mayweather but he lost tungod sa pagdagandagan sa iyang kontra.”

From Shara Akiatan, Quezon, Bukidnon: “Such a biased one. Really unfair.”

From Kate Cabanez, Camiguin: “Hindi maganda ang game dahil di karapat-dapat manalo si Floyd. Tumakbo at yakap nang yakap lang naman ang ginawa niya sa ring.”

From Atty. Vic Carillo: “Dili boxing kundili patintero ang dula.”

From Midway Beach Re s or t ow n er B or ge Echavez: “Not fair!”

From Carla Gabule: “Mayweather’s performance was convincing.

Were the judges blind? Where is justice?”

From photographer Enrico Ramon Lluch: “Even in defeat, real victors stand tall.”

Then the humor came.

From Owen Jaen, Liceo de Cagayan University: “I nominate Mayweather to join Dancing with the Stars. He will win there as well.”

From Lady Velasco, Wao, Lanao del Sur: “Ang gusto kong boyfriend yung tulad ni Mayweather, yung aakapin ka lang pag magaway.”

From photographer Jashen Travilla: “ Too much run will win you” – Queen There will be endless analyses over bottles of beer that will continue or quite a while. But in the end, it’s just another event wrapping up. For today is another start of a working week. The Mayweather-Pacquiao fight will nothing be but a fizzle in the memory soon.

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WHO’S WHO FROM HOLLYWOOD?

High-profile celebrities gracing Pacquiao-Mayweather fight THE Fight of the Century between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather was a starstudded affair, attracting high-profile celebrities to the MGM Grand Garden Arena to watch the hostilities live.

His Airness Michael Jordan led the pack as the basketball great arrived minutes before the fight started, while

actor Denzel Washington had been present a little earlier. Actress Paris Hilton also trended on Twitter with her appearance in the richest bout in boxing history.

Mayweather won the fight by a unanimous decision and remained unbeaten with a 48-0 record, but Pacquiao still enjoyed a massive support from his fans.

Filipinos watch a live satellite feed of the welterweight title fight between Filipino boxing hero Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. during a free public viewing in downtown Sunday. Mayweather Jr. won the match. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Hotel heiress Paris Hilton

Reverend Jessie Jackson

NBA legend Michael Jordan

Actor Denzel Washington

LA Lakers great Magic Johnson

American business tycoon Donald Trump and wife, Melania Trump

Filipinos take Pacquiao loss to Floyd hard, demand rematch MANNY Pacquiao’s loss to undefeated American Floyd Mayweather Jr in their welterweight showdown in Las Vegas was met with tears, anger and accusations of foul play in his homeland of the Philippines on Sunday.

The American weathered Pacquiao’s early assault and seemed to get stronger as the fight wore on, finishing ahead on all three judges’ scorecards.

In General Santos City,

some fans cried while others called for an immediate rematch, saying Pacquiao deserved the win as he had been the aggressor, chasing Mayweather around the ring for much of the 12-round fight.

“It’s a home court decision,” said Karlo Alexei Nograles, a lawmaker from Davao City. “Manny should’ve won. He had Mayweather running and cornered on the ropes. Manny

did not disappoint Filipinos, he gave it his all.”

The fight left streets deserted and brought the country to a virtual standstill as Filipinos packed into cinemas, hotels and parks to watch on big screens, while army bases across the Philippines also showed the fight for the troops.

President Benigno Aquino thanked Pacquiao for inspiring his countrymen to strive for better lives.

“He fought for respect, not points,” Edwin Lacierda, the president’s spokesman, said. “He won the hearts of the world.”

While many fans vehemently disagreed with the result, some agreed Mayweather had come out on top.

“I am sad, let’s accept the decision,” Isidro Santos, a shopping mall guard, told Reuters. “Manny will remain See loss, page 7

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Pacquiao, the boxer, is man chosen by God LIFE’S INSPIRATIONS: “… But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today…” (Deuteronomy 8:18, the Holy Bible).

-ooo PACQUIAO THE BOXER IS A MAN CHOSEN

BY GOD: The final press conference for the May 03, 2015 “fight of the century” between Fili pi n o champion Manny Pacquiao and American best pugilist Floyd Mayweather Jr., held early morning of Thursday, April 30, 2015 (Philippine time), showcased one more time that Pacquiao the boxer is a man chosen by God to proclaim His Word to the world.

W h o c o u l d h a ve e ve r i m a g i n e d t h a t a briefing for media for a very important and internationally-historical boxing bout (and, to date, the most profitable for any of the world’s fighters and promoters) would turn out to be a forum where people are told of the power of the Word of God, the Bible?

God and the Bible could not have been proclaimed to the whole world better, with what Manny did, considering that almost all eyes from every nook and cranny of this planet are focused on his upcoming fight. As I listened to him, I couldn’t help but think that Manny is among those chosen by God even before the universe was created, to have a part in fulfilling His purpose during the end time.

-ooo PACQUIAO CHOSEN BEFORE CREATION: What is God’s purpose during the end time?

This could be found in Matthew 24:14, where Jesus Christ, our God and Savior, said that His Bible, and the Gospel about Him, must have to be preached to all the nations, after which the end shall come. This preaching is given by God to those whom He chose before creating the universe.

In John 15:16, it is made clear therein that the men and women who were created by Him for those who will go and proclaim His Word, who desired and chose to become preachers. it is Jesus Himself who chose them. It is not It is God who did the choosing.

LIFE’S INSPIRATIONS: “… But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today…”

(Deuteronomy 8:18, the Holy Bible).

When did God choose His preachers?

Ephesians 1:4 is clear.

He chose those who will preach and proclaim H i s Wo r d b e f o r e creation. In John 16, Jesus stressed that those whom He chose to spread His Gospel had been with Him since the beginning. From all these, it is clear that Pacquiao was one of the chosen workers of Atty. Batas Mauricio God. -ooo P OW E R A N D V I C TO RY F O R T H E M A N OF GOD: And I am sure that what Pacquiao is doing now already solidified his grip on salvation in eternal life. Indeed, when he accepted Jesus as God and Savior, Pacquiao became born of God, and was assured of his own mansion in heaven.

Yet, his insistence on recognizing God and His Word, the Bible, at every opportunity given to him, made his salvation a lot sweeter. For Jesus was firm in saying, in Luke 12:8, “I tell you, whoever publicly acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God…” But, on top of being assured of salvation in eternal life, Pacquiao’s acknowledgement of Jesus as His God and Savior, and His preaching of His Word, the Bible, have given one more blessing to him and his loved ones: power and victory in everything he sets his hands to do, which is the promise for those who listen to God and obey His commands!

-ooo REACTIONS? Please call me at +63 917 984 24 68, +63 918 574 0193, +63 922 833 43 96, or Skype (batasmauricio), Viber (+63 918 574 0193) and Line (+63 917 984 24 68). Email: batasmauricio@ yahoo.com, melaniolazomauriciojr@outlook. com, mmauriciojr111@gmail.com.

Kakampi mo ang batas

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At last Floyd meets, beats Manny

By Kieran Mulvaney, HBO Sports

SO great had been the sense of anticipation, so prolonged had been the build-up, so numerous had been the false starts and cruel teases, that there remained a sense of disbelief even as Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather finally entered the ring at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday night, five long years after they had initially been expected to do so. The surreal atmosphere was heightened by the fact that the arena was filled with polite enthusiasm rather than the raucously partisan screaming that might have been expected given what was stake - a consequence, perhaps, of exorbitantly high prices attracting a different kind of crowd from the usual found at a prize fight.

But then the ring emptied of everyone except fighters and referee, and with only seconds remaining before the two greatest fighters of their generation would finally engage in combat, a roar washed through the venue, building to a rapid crescendo like a wave gathering pace and then hurtling toward shore.

It would not be sustained.

Forty-seven minutes later, after 12 rounds of frequently skillful but rarely truly captivating action, the roar was largely replaced by boos, as a rabidly proPacquiao crowd expressed its feelings toward the de-

fensively brilliant if frequently frustrating tactics of Mayweather. The jeers continued throughout Pacquiao’s post-fight interview with HBO’s Max Kellerman who, as the Filipino stood dismayed at having lost a clear unanimous decision, pressed him on why he hadn’t done more to counter a Mayweather strategy that had been eminently predictable.

“I thought I won the fight,” said Pacquiao - even though the 116-112 scores in favor of Mayweather that were handed in by Burt Clements and Glenn Feldman were surely as close as

Despite his gallant effort, Manny Pacquiao got outpointed by Floy Mayweather.

could reasonably be handed in. (The third judge, Dave Moretti, saw the contest wider, at 118-110.)

“He didn’t do anything.

He moved all the time,” protested Pacquiao of Mayweather’s elusiveness, which belied once again the many obituaries that have been penned of the American’s

famed footwork. “It’s not easy to throw punches if he’s moving around.”

But, as Kellerman countered, it was entirely foreseeable that Mayweather would fight in such a way, given the frequency with which he had done so in the previous 47 wins in his stillunblemished professional

career. Indeed, it is one of the sporting certainties in life that, after a few rounds in which he sizes up his foe and at the end of which that foe’s fans feel their man is within a shot at victory, Mayweather will pull away and dominate down the stretch.

So it was on Saturday

night. Mayweather (48-0, 26 KOs), began the bout working behind a jab, taking advantage of his greater reach and height to keep Pacquiao at a distance that was to his liking, looking to land a chopping right hand when the smaller Filipino managed to close the gap See beats, page 7

UNDERCARDS:

Hart, Solomon win LAS VEGAS - Another undefeated fighter notched a win in the undercard fights of ‘The Fight of the Century’.

Jesse Hart of Philadelphia stopped Mike Jimenez of Chicago in the 6th round

of their scheduled 10 round Super Middleweight scrap.

Hart was on point from the opening round as his hooks landed early on Jimenez’ face.

The left side of Jimenez’

face was visibly red in only the first round of the bout, a result of Hart’s punches.

Hart dominated Jimenez en route to a 6th round TKO win for the fighter from See hart, page 7

Santa Cruz dominates Cayetano; Lomachenko KOs Rodriguez in 9th

By MIGUEL MARAVILLA Photos: Esther Lin / Showtime

WBC superbantamweight world champion Leo “El Terremoto” Santa Cruz (300-1, 17 KOs) scored a onesided ten round unanimous decision over game but overmatched Jose Cayetano (17-4, 8 KOs) in a non-title featherweight bout.

Santa Cruz dominated the bout from the opening bell, but Cayetano fought Santa Cruz outclassed Cayetano. hard the whole way and was never in danger of being stopped. Sores were 100-90 on all three cards.

WB O feather weight world champion Vasyl Lomachenko (4-1, 2 KOs) scored a one-sided ninth round KO over WBO #1 rated Gamalier Rodriguez (25-3-3, 17 KOs).

Lomachenko outclassed Rodriguez, displaying the brilliant boxing skills that See dominates, page 7

Lomachenko dropped Rodriguez in ninth round.

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Beats... from page 6

and, when that didn’t work, wrapping him up tightly. In the opening frame, Pacquiao looked a little lost, but the second was closer, as the eight-weight title holder began to find his range. The third frame was the first that could reasonably have been scored in his favor, the crowd exploding as Pacquiao scored with a flurry while Mayweather was against the ropes and again with a short right hook. The fourth was clearly his and was arguably his best round of the night: a straight left hand sent Mayweather back into the ropes, and as he covered up, Pacquiao unloaded a fusillade of punches before stepping back, resetting as he accepted that Mayweather was easily weathering the storm, before catching him again with a hook before round’s end.

Mayweather, unhurt by the assault but looking to establish his dominance, came out for the fifth in a more assertive mode, working a hard jab in front of a straight right hand, and sliding away along the ropes every time Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) showed signs of setting his feet for an attack. Pacquiao regained the initiative in the sixth, a strong combination punctuated by two straight lefts followed by another combination with Mayweather’s back to the ropes.

Again, Mayweather’s guard was high, and he shook his head to underline he was unhurt and unaffected; still, if Pacquiao’s punches weren’t landing cleanly, they were at least to some extent landing and scoring.

That would not, however, be the case for much of the rest of the fight. Slowly, surely and with increasing authority, Mayweather took control of the contest, working his jab to keep Pacquiao at bay and landing straight right hands to remind his opponent not to rush in with abandon. By the eighth, the battle was being waged at the distance that the taller American wanted, and the Filipino increasingly struggled to make an impression.

Punches fell short of Mayweather’s retreating torso, and on those occasions when Pacquiao feinted his foe to the ropes or into the corner, Mayweather had more often than not slipped away before he could unload. There were moments of hope: a clean hook that landed in round nine, a straight left in the eleventh. And there was no question that Pacquiao was attempting to force the action. But Mayweather’s long, spearing jab kept him increasingly at bay, and his elusiveness left Pacquiao increasingly reluctant to commit. One moment in the tenth was especially illustrative: after backing Mayweather into a corner, where just four rounds previously he would have seen an invitation to attack, now he saw only doubt, and he paused and contemplated

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his options long enough for Mayweather to have moved away and for the moment to have been lost.

The American stepped up the pressure in the eleventh, waking toward Pacquaio and firing big right hands behind his dominant jab, and although Mayweather eased off the gas in the twelfth perhaps enough to score the final frame for his rival - there could have been little doubt as to the result when the final bell rang.

If Mayweather-Pacquiao was one of the most anticipated events in boxing history, its place in the pantheon will likely be negatively affected in the future by the fact that it was one of the more forgettable bigtime clashes. It will not be recalled with the fondness of Ali-Frazier, Ali-Foreman, or Hagler-Hearns, any more than Mayweather himself will be as adored as any of those warriors. But as much as the blame for the underwhelming way in which the bout unfolded will be laid at Mayweather’s technically brilliant but viscerally unstimulating style, the punch stats underlined the emptiness of Pacquiao’s claim that he was responsible for all the offense.

Indeed, Mayweather actually slightly out-threw Pacquiao, by 435 punches to 429, and landed at a far higher percentage. In total 148 of his blows found their mark, including 67 of 267 jabs and 81 of 168 power punches. Mayweather, contrary to appearances, was carrying his part of the offensive burden; the difference was that he landed many of his punches on the back foot, and slipped away from Pacquiao’s own blows.

Indeed Pacquiao’s success rate was anemic: he landed just 81 total punches, a paltry 19 percent of his output.

Mayweather was magnanimous in victory.

“My hat’s off to Manny Pacquiao,” he said. “I see why he’s one of the guys at the pinnacle of boxing. He’s a tough competitor. He’s a very, very awkward fighter, so I had to take my time.

Manny Pacquiao is a true champion, and we both did our best today.”

Of his own future, he reiterated a view expressed earlier in the week that his career has but five months remaining.

“My last fight is in September,” he stated. “Then it’s time to hang it up. I’m almost 40 years old.”

He rarely looked like it on Saturday night. And while his departure from the ring may not elicit the wailing and gnashing of teeth that accompanied the exits of more adored fighters, it will leave a giant void of talent that will likely remain unfilled for many years to come.

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Mayweather’s Defensive Tactics Frustrate Pacquiao

By JOHN ELIGON

LAS VEGAS — There were not enough superlatives to describe the excitement in the lead-up to the super fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.

But in the end, the action in the ring did not live up to the hype. And what could the boxing world really have expected?

The fight here at the MGM Grand Garden Arena was vintage Mayweather. He ducked under Pacquiao’s flurries. He side-hopped out of the corner when his opponent attempted to lunge at him. And every now and then, Mayweather thrust his right fist squarely into Pacquiao’s skull, or swept his left glove across the side of his face as if clawing skin from Pacquiao’s cheek.

W h i l e May w e at h e r (48-0) had been prone in recent fights to standing in the middle of the ring and scrapping it out with

but was saved from the fall when he bumped into Referee Tony Weeks.

Weeks who saw the damage on the disadvantaged fighter halted the fight abruptly and Hart secured the 17th consecutive win and 14th knockout of his career.

He also secured the vacant USBA Super Middleweight belt in addition to the NABF strap that he has already in possession.

The first fight of the undercards started at 3 pm and featured a 10 round Super Middleweight contest between Brad Solomon of Lafayette, La. (24-0, 9 KOs) and Adrian Granados of Cicero, Ill. ( 13-3, 9 KOs).

Solomon squeezed through a game Granados by a close Split Decision win to remain unbeaten in his career.

Two of three judges scored 96-94 in favor of Solomon while a third has the same card for Granados.

Both fighters figured in plenty of action in the inside from the 1st bell to the end of the 10th.

Granados started aggressively, hitting Solomon in the head and the body but the unbeaten favorite was ready with his counters.

Tiring in the second half of the fight, Granados pursued his opponent and tried to pin him in the ropes and posts to unload his punches.

But Solomon escaped most of his opponent’s attempt to trap him with effective countering and movement.

Solomon also escaped from page 6 with a hard earned win to Philadelphia. keep his record unblem A series of hard left , ished which now stands at hooks landed on Jimenez 25-0 while a disappointed who almost hit the canvas Granados dropped to 13-4.

Hart...

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his opponents, he clearly reverted to his old ways on Saturday night, perhaps a sign of his respect for the threat that Pacquiao (57-62) posed to his undefeated record. The casual fan may not have liked it. But this was a boxing aficionado’s tactical dream.

“I outboxed him,” Mayweather said after the fight.

“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.”

While Mayweather won a unanimous decision by a large margin on the final scorecards — 118-110 on one; 116-112 on the other two — the fight actually did not appear easy to score.

Pacquiao spent much of the night stalking forward toward Mayweather, while the undefeated champion tap-danced around the ring.

In a few instances, Pacquiao cornered Mayweather and unleashed punches in waves, but Mayweather

either grabbed Pacquiao or slid out of the way. The fans booed regularly when Mayweather would hold Pacquiao or when he would backpedal away from the action. So while it may have looked and sounded as if Pacquiao was doing damage to Mayweather, the judges were forced to look closely, tune out the noise and determine whether Pacquiao was indeed scoring against Mayweather.

“I thought I caught him many more times than he caught me,” Pacquiao said.

“I was never hurt.”

In fact, however, it was Mayweather who threw and connected more punches.

According to CompuBox fight stats, Mayweather landed 148 of 435 punches (34 percent), while Pacquiao landed just 81 of 429 (19 percent).

Sometimes, it did not seem that way, because the crowd that was more in favor of Pacquiao stood and

cheered every time he got even close to Mayweather, even when those punches did not connect. In a couple of instances, Pacquiao backed Mayweather into the ropes by connecting with a straight left hand. And then Mayweather stood on the ropes, hand clutched close to his body, as Pacquiao whaled his fists like a drummer beating out a power ballad.

But those punches did not penetrate Mayweather’s guard, and he simply looked at Pacquiao, shook his head and said, “Nope.” It was a classic rope-a-dope.

While the cheers of the fans and Pacquiao’s aggression might have been enough to induce many fighters to become more aggressive, Mayweather did not take the bait. Not even as his father, who is his trainer, urged him to be more aggressive, he said.

Continue reading the main storyContinue reading the main story.

Dominates...

amateur boxing team. Two years later, he became a professional boxer and the rest in history.

Born on Dec. 17, 1978 to a couple in Kibawe town of Bukidnon, Manny’s family moved to General Santos City in North Cotabato when he was two years old.

His father, Rosalio Pacquiao, a daily wage laborer, and his mother, Dionesia Dapidran, who had to care for six kids ( two of whom his mom’s previous husband), could not make both ends meet. Unfortunately, his parents parted ways when he was 12 and his hope of high school education dimmed.

Being the fifth in a brood of six, Manny has sisters Liza (Silvestre-Onding) and Isidra (Pacquiao-Paglinawan) and three brothers (Domingo Silvestre, Alberto and Rogelio Pacquiao).

Manny would later realize why his mom opted to stay in GenSan, nearer to Sarangani where the Dapirans come from--the very place, perhaps by a twist of fate and the popularity and wealth he has been reaping from the ring as boxing icon, would later become its congressman.

Last year, Forbes listed Pacquiao as 11th richest sports personality with $41.8-million purse after having been champion in eight boxing weight divisions.

she believes was unfair and baseless.

Over at the social media, women also talked about the fight, calling the decision “controversial”.

Mafe Vergara’s post over Facebook might say it all: “Mayweather wins the title, Pacquiao won (our) hearts!

You’re the true champ, Pacman!”

No less than Bb. Pilipinas-Universe Pia Wurtzbach admits to be a big fan of Pacquiao. “I see him (Pacquiao) as an inspiration.”

Ms. Wurtzbach was in Cagayan de Oro Saturday for a homecoming after winning the Bb. PilipinasUniverse crown in Manila earlier.

Wurtzbach said when she thinks of Pacquiao’s huge representation for the country abroad, she is already feeling the kind of responsibility she will be carrying when she goes for the Miss Universe Pageant soon.

“I’m gonna be wearing a sash that says ‘Philippines’ not Pia Wurtzbach, so, I look up to him (Pacquiao) and see him as an inspiration,” Ms. Wurtzbach said.

from page 6

made him a two-time Olympic gold medalist.

Rodriguez was deducted a point for a low blow in round five.

Lomachenko dropped Rodriguez with a body shot in round seven. Rodriguez was deducted another point for a low blow in round eight. Lomachenko dropped Rodriguez again in round nine and Rodriguez was counted out by referee Robert Byrd.

Loss... from page 3

my idol, he lost to a better fighter, a clever boxer.”

Local analysts thought Mayweather was better defensively and landed the more accurate punches, and while Pacquiao was the more aggressive they said he won only three or four rounds. – Reuters

Thankful... from page 1

saying that “Sapat na sapat at kung tutuusin ay sobra-sobrang biyaya na ang pinagkaloob sa akin at sa buong sambayanang Filipino.”

He asked every Filipino to accept what happened in his fight against Mayweather.

“Wag na po tayong malungkot dahil sa lahat ng pangyayari sa ating buhay ay tanging panginoon lamang ang nagtatakda at nagpaplano sa ating kapalaran,” he concluded.

Pacquiao punched his way from nowhere to prominence from the time he left Gen. Santos City to Manila in 1993 as a 14-year old high school dropout and joined the country’s national

Women... from page 1

prevail.

Joanne said, for her, not even a tie will suffice the effort shown by Pacquiao and Mayweather’s evading stance inside the ring, what more for a decision that

Rematch... from page 1

fright press conference.

The Filipino fighter’s team admitted that Pacquiao hurt his right shoulder two weeks before the fight. An MRI revealed that the boxer had a tear on his shoulder, but decided to proceed with the megabout.

Mayweather revealed that his last fight will be in September 2015, and was tight-lipped about a possible rematch.

“Can I enjoy my victory, please,” the American said.

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