On Saturday May 2nd, the fight of the century between Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao and Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. occurred at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight was broadcasted on HBO and Showtime for pay per view at the cost of $89.95 and an additional ten dollars for high-definition. This bout had an enormous amount of hype built around it, leading to tremendous expectations for this once-in-a-lifetime brawl. Mayweather has a record of 47-0, while Pacquiao has a record of 57-5-2. These two are the best fighters of the 21st century, which is the reason why this match has been long anticipated by the public. Chase Yun (11), “ There was a ton of buzz about this fight at school. I had never even heard about professional boxing before, but this fight has everyone talking about the sport.” However despite the anticipation for this fight was fairly one-sided; Mayweather won the contest by unanimous decision, with two judges scoring it 116–112 and the other 118–110.

There has been immense controversy over the entertainment value of the fight. People have claimed that Mayweather was simply avoiding Pacquiao throughout the fight rather than trying to land punches of his own. Legendary boxer Oscar De La Hoya said, “Sorry boxing fans.” Hoya, along with many others, was dissatisfied with the lack of actual combat during the fight. Pacquiao even believed he had won the fight, because Mayweather had barely fought. William Fu (10) commented, “ For all 12 rounds Mayweather hugged the wall and tried to stall time to stop Pacquiao from landing any punches.” It is true that Mayweather was avoiding Pacquiao’s attacks, but he landed more punches than Pacquiao throughout the fight. People are justified in complaining for a lack of contact, but nobody can deny that Mayweather had won the fight through fair means under the official boxing rules.

Despite the complaints regarding the entertainment value of the fight, it turned out to be a great success. The revenue totalled to an estimated 300-400 million dollars according to CNN with Mayweather receiving 60 percent of the gross to Pacquiao’s 40.  When asked about the total profit Jessica Zhou (11) remarked, “The amount of money they made is ridiculous, it’s hard to believe that so many people would pay one-hundred dollars to see people box.” Mayweather and Pacquiao were both making hundred’s of thousands of dollars for every second they were in the ring. The amount of money exchanged is unprecedented in boxing history.

Even so, after the fight Mayweather announced that he will proceed to fight one more match guaranteed under his contract and then he will retire. Pacquiao disclosed that he had torn his rotator cuff and would require surgery. Because of Pacquiao’s shoulder there will most likely never be a rematch to see if Mayweather would ever lose his perfect record.