Floyd Mayweather cruised past Manny Pacquiao Saturday night in Las Vegas, winning by unanimous decision to improve his career record to 48-0. Pacquiao said in the ring after the bout that he believes he deserved to win (and Skip Bayless agrees), but though the crowd inside the MGM Grand was clearly in Pacquiao’s corner, Mayweather kept Pacquiao at arm’s length for most of the fight and tactically outclassed Pacquiao for 12 rounds.
The fight, which was marred by widespread cable provider issues, left many fans disappointed — not just by the final result, but also by Mayweather’s defensive style. The pay-per-view was the most expensive in boxing’s history, and the prevailing sentiment after the fight was that the Mayweather-Pacquiao superfight simply wasn’t worth it.
The real problem with the Mayweather-Pacquiao pay-per-view wasn’t the main event (which was entertaining as far as Mayweather fights go), but the laughable undercard. There were only two televised bouts before the megafight, and though there are only a handful of recognizable names left for the average boxing fan, it’s hard to get excited about the likes of Jose Cayetano and Gamalier Rodriguez. The most exciting fight of a Floyd Mayweather PPV is often one of the undercard matches — the Mayweather-Alvarez card produced an exceptional fight between Lucas Matthysse and Danny Garcia — but Mayweather-Pacquiao pay-per-view offered no real value until the main event, which played out like nearly every other Mayweather fight in recent memory.