What did you expect from Mayweather/Pacquiao?

Every so often the Sports Gods will screw up and produce a confrontation that is NOT destined to become a classic.  Either it will be a blow-out because one side is obviously over-matched, or a boring event because the two antagonists don’t match up well.  But one of the things we love about sports is being wrong; the upset, the Cinderella story, the Rudy.  How else do you explain that every year people think the Kentucky Derby winner will win the Triple Crown, or the gaggle of people always expecting Tiger to win the next Major?

The latest example of this phenomenon happened last weekend as the Mayweather/Pacquiao fight failed to live up to expectations.  Or did it?  I expected a couple of past-their-prime boxers to cash big paychecks and do everything they could to avoid getting hurt.  And that’s what happened.  Anyone who paid $100 to watch the fight in HD is simply the exemplar of P.T. Barnum’s dictum that it is morally wrong to allow a sucker to keep his money.

Both fighters were at least five years past their prime, at that’s being generous.  Mayweather successfully ducked Pacquiao for years when there was a chance that he could actually lose, but once Pacquiao lost to a fighter nowhere near as good as Mayweather, he knew it was time to cash in (his nickname isn’t “Money” for nothing).  Mayweather, a cautious, defensive boxer, had no reason to try and hurt Pacquiao, and Pacquiao, finally getting the big payday he’s wanted for years, had no reason to take any risks against a fighter whose MO was to take advantage of over-eager opponents (it is too bad they weren’t fighting “winner takes all” as Pacquiao once proposed).

Pacquiao defends his not going for a knock out in the later rounds on the grounds that he was sure he was way ahead on points.  First, like all those people whose cable went out after the bought the package, he must not have been watching the fight as Mayweather was way ahead.  Maybe after winning all those fights in which he wasn’t knocked out, he just assumed if he was upright at the end, it meant he was winning.

Second, it is odd Pacquiao thought he was winning because he now says that he lost because of his injured shoulder.  Not only did he think he was winning, but he thought he was beating a fighter with a 47-0 record despite having an injured shoulder?  I suspect he is “pulling a Peyton” which is what you call it when the loser of a sporting event later claims he was injured but didn’t tell anyone.  Either Pacquiao is lying about the injury, or he decided to cash a paycheck without being able to perform; neither should endear him to fans of the “sweet science.”

Mayweather says he is willing to fight Pacquiao again.  Of course he is!  He’d make millions of dollars for dancing around with a guy who either can’t hurt him, or has no intention to hurt him. Sadly, I suspect if there were a rematch, despite all the evidence provided by the bout on May 2^nd that there would still be a sizable audience willing to plop down $100 to see a couple of old guys slap each other.

Please, if you are one of those people, just rent a copy of Grudge Match and watch Robert de Niro and Sylvester Stallone pretend to fight each other in a movie.  It will be just as real as if Mayweather and Pacquiao decided to cash another paycheck.