Floyd Mayweather creates an 'interesting piece of art' against Manny Pacquiao

As the smoke settles and the armchair boxing fan slinks into the distance, tut-tut-tutting at the apparent demise of the sport, those of us lumbered with an addiction for trading of gloves are left grappling at the aftermath.

It’s a little like the morning after at the gatecrashed house party, scratching the head and gaping at half empty beer bottles. Last night people were looking your way and the spotlight was on. Today, they’re gone.

So let’s clear up.

If you were looking for blood and guts then Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao didn’t live up to its lofty billing as ‘Fight of the Century’. For those that chose to don a ‘boxing fan’ hat for one night only, it must have been like turning up for a heavy metal concert only to be greeted by a classical symphony orchestra/

Mayweather, just like outside of the ring at negotiating table, dictated the fight on his terms, swirling around the ring and popping simple jab and straight right combinations. Timing was the key. 

There was a school of thought that Pacquiao would either elect to try and drown Mayweather in a sea of southpaw flurries as he pressed and pressed forward, pinning his opponent onto the ropes; or that he would try and adopt an in-and-out, get inside score-get back out style in the manner he had his own way with Oscar De La Hoya. 

From my eyes, it seemed that Pacquiao went for the latter approach of ‘thoughtful aggression’. The problem with thinking against Mayweather is that as well as being a grand chess master, this also allowed the pace to slow to his preferred tempo. The result was that ‘PacMan’ seemed intent on unlocking a puzzle with fleeting sights of breakthroughs. As he tried to work out the riddle, Mayweather racked up the points.

Intriguingly, Mayweather didn’t seem to dig as deep as he could – perhaps as deep as some fans might have hoped. That impression was compounded by his father and trainer occasionally becoming exasperated in between rounds.

The result was a fight way more tactical than the casual observer would have liked but for boxing purists it was an admirable display from Mayweather who delicately diffused Pacquiao. The Filipino seemed a little flat and didn’t provide the offensive spark many had hoped for. Yet, he had some minor moments and was never in big trouble. Of course, for this Hall-of-Famer being a game but losing opponent would have felt nothing short of disastrous.

I had the fight 118-110 to Mayweather on my first viewing. On second viewing I had it at 117-111. It was a piece of art that was interesting rather than incredible.