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Floyd Mayweather beats Manny Pacquiao

It’s the most heavily hyped fight of our generation, Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao, the brash American against the Filipino congressman.

Can it live up to the hype? Can it get close in terms of drama to superfights like Ali-Frazier, Hagler-Hearns or Holyfield-Bowe?

More importantly, can boxing avoid another scandalous decision, fan-man intrusion or hand-wrap controversy?

The New Daily’s sports editor Greig Johnston, and lifelong boxing nut, covered all the action from Las Vegas.

LIVE BLOG

That’s all from our coverage of the richest fight in history. It was a good, solid fight. But worth $300 million? You be the judge.

And the winner is…  Floyd Mayweather Jr, wins by scores of 118-110, 116-112, 116-112.

Round 12 – The final bell goes. Probably gave the final round to Mayweather, which would make it 116-113 for Floyd Mayweather Jr. Well, it wasn’t Hagler-Hearns, but it wasn’t Mike Tyson-Bonecrusher Smith either. Certainly not a definitive performance from either man. Just a good, competitive fight between two very good boxers who are a few years past their best. Still a chance these scorecards could be interesting.

Round 11 – A Mayweather round. Controlled the distance well, and picked Pacquaio off from long range. 106-104 Mayweather. Pacquiao needs a knockdown.

Round 10 – Again a very difficult round to score. Not a lot of note landed by either man. Hate to do it, but let’s call it even. 96-95 Mayweather. 

Round 9 – Great start to the round for Pacquiao, but Floyd closed it well. Very tough to score, but we give it to Floyd. Score: 86-85 Mayweather. 

Round 8 – Floyd’s round. He caught Pacquiao with a couple of very sharp left hooks coming in. Score: 76-76. 

Round 7 – More aggression from Floyd, but he landed very little of note. Pacquiao, meanwhile, lands a nice one two that might have won him the round. Score: 67-66 Pacquaio.

Round 6 – A nice left hand from Manny seemed to loosen Floyd’s legs momentarily. He followed up with a flurry, but Floyd recovered well. Score; 57-57.

Round 5 – Good steadier for Floyd. He spent most of it on the back foot, but did enough to edge it. Score: 48-47 Mayweather. 

Round 4 – We have a fight. Pacquiao’s best round so far. He landed a couple of great counter right hands and a nice left that backed Mayweather up. Mayweather still ok, but Pacquiao is encouraged. Score: 38-38.

Round 3  A better round for Pacquiao. He actually landed a couple of nice counter rights of his own there. Mayweather still largely unperturbed, but I’ll give that round to Pacquiao. Score: 29-28 Mayweather

Round 2 – Pacquiao more aggressive, but Floyd doesn’t look too concerned by anything coming his way. Mayweather still finding a home for his straight right hand. Get the feeling Manny will walk into one at some point, and it might not end well for him. Score: 20-18 Mayweather. 

Round 1 – Very cautious start from Pacquiao, wary of getting countered by Floyd’s right hand. Bit of a nothing round, but a couple of nice rights from Floyd give him the first. Manny bothered by the speed. Score: 10-9 Mayweather.

1:58pm – and there’s the first bell. Mayweather-Pacquaio is underway.

1:51pm – Floyd is on his way. Thankfully his ring-walk song is quite dreadful too. Floyd in the ring now, and the instructions from referee Kenny Bayless are imminent.

1:48pm – Manny is in the ring. But my word that song was a disappointment.

1:46pm – AC/DC’s Thunderstruck rings out. Pacquiao is on his way to the ring. Oh dear, for the ring walk he seems to have selected a ballad. One of his own. Tragedy.

1:42pm – Ray Charles doing a magic job of the Star Spangled Banner here. Organist bottling a bit mind you.

1:39pm – The national anthems are being sung. Getting the Mexican national anthem here. Because it’s Cinco de Mayo. Hello to all our Mexican readers too. Found out today that this fight is on free in Mexico, and being shown on the two biggest TV stations simultaneously. Now that’s a country.

1:28pm – Pacquiao’s gloves are on, as we’re told there’s a delay as US cable television companies cater to last-minute pay per views. Let’s not forget the reason we’re all here people.

1:19pm – Of course, Mayweather-Pacquiao just the second biggest match-up of the day. My Twitter feed reliably informs me Bernie Vince has gone to Nat Fyfe at the MCG.

1:13pm – Fighters very close to the ring walks just now. Manny usually enters to Eye of the Tiger. Floyd will enter to something this old correspondent won’t have heard of…

1:10pm – The countdown is on. How this fight plays out will be fascinating. The heart says Pacquaio, but the head says Mayweather will be too quick and too accurate. Whenever he’s in a sticky situation early (Shane Mosley, Zab Judah) Mayweather finds a way to take the fight away from them. Pacquiao’s early speed will be very interesting though.

1:06pm – Blessed relief on the pay per view: Mauro Ranallo was silent for a whole two minutes there.

Leo Santa Cruz beats Cayetano by unanimous decision over 10 rounds, 100-90, 100-90 and 100-90. 

12:58pm – Santa Cruz-Cayetano is over, going the 10-round distance. But there will be only one winner there, Santa Cruz dominated the action against a very game opponent.

12:45pm – Cayetano will make a wonderful sparring partner. So durable. Meanwhile, Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach watching Floyd’s hands get wrapped.

12:43pm – Now Mauro Ranallo is telling us about his favourite Christian Bale and Bradley Cooper roles. Personally I thought Bale’s performance in The Machinist was incredible.

12:38pm  Cayetano one of those guys that is just too tough, too courageous for his own good. Taking plenty of hard shots and just shrugging them off. 

12:34pm – Sant Cruz dominating this fight through four rounds, but Cayetano is showing plenty of heart and skills too. Still can’t see him causing an upset though.

12:26pm – Jake Gyllenhaal arrives, looking like he’s fighting. Give us a smile Jakey! Denzel Washington here too, in a tracksuit. My word Denz, you might have put a shirt on.

12:22pm – Nice first round from Santa Cruz and Cayetano, but Santa Cruz looks the much bigger man here. Suspect it will be a painful evening for Cayatano…

12:13pm – Second fight of the telecast, hot prospect Leo Santa Cruz vs Jose Cayetano, about to get underway.

12:09pm – Surreal: Jon Voight and Clint Eastwood sizing each other up in the corridors. Big Clint not quite sure what to make of it all. Michael Keaton and Michael J Fox also in attendance.

12:03pm – The arrivals of both Mayweather and Pacquiao are shown on the telecast. Mayweather looking pensive, Pacquiao relaxed.

Vasyl Lomachenko KOs Gamalier Rodriguez 50 seconds into round nine

11:53am – That’s the first fight of the telecast done and dusted. Rodriguez takes a knee and doesn’t bother getting up in round nine. It was one-way traffic since the early going.

11:46am – Lomachenko has Rodriguez down in round seven, a body shot forcing Rodroguez to a knee, but he survives the round.

11:34am – Lomachenko, so impressive at the London Olympics as an amateur, should wrap this up soon enough. Rodriguez eating plenty of leather right now in round four.

11:33am – Well, it didn’t take me long to start disliking Mauro Ranallo. Seems like he’d get excited opening a tin of beans.

11:27am – If I may take this rather uninspiring bout to indulge in a moment of undercard pedantry: in boxing, the term ‘undercard’ is a collective noun to refer to ALL THE FIGHTS before the main event. So, this fight between Lomachenko and Rodriguez is not an undercard, but rather part of the undercard. I feel much better now.

11:15am – The first bout of the telecast is set for a start, WBO featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko vs Gamalier Rodriguez

11am – Main Event’s pay per view card is underway in Australia, and Aussie boxing fans have already had a win. We’ve been used to Colonel Bob Sheridan and Larry Merchant (combined age of about 155)on commentary. Instead we’ve got Canadian Mauro Ranallo and super middleweight world champ Andre Ward. Mind you, the telecast has been going for eight minutes and Ranallo is starting to grate – so it could be a case of you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.

 

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