Floyd Mayweather enjoyed an illustrious and undefeated career, and shared the ring with legends such as Ricky Hatton, Oscar De La Hoya, Canelo Alvarez and many more.
Floyd Mayweather is widely considered one of the greatest boxers of all time. With 15 world title wins across five weight divisions, against numerous well-regarded champions, Mayweather is highly praised for a reason.
Though one fight, which was one of Mayweather’s last, has been criticized for coming five years too late.
Floyd Mayweather defeated Manny Pacquiao 10 years ago today in a fight that happened years too late
In 2010, Mayweather defeated Shane Mosley in an aggressive display, winning a lopsided decision against the pound-for-pound great fighter.
Mosley had stepped in to replace Manny Pacquiao, whose fight with Mayweather broke down after a dispute over drug testing. The fight didn’t materialize until five years later, when Pacquiao, who KO’d Ricky Hatton, was 36 and Mayweather was 38.
Pac-Man had also accrued five losses in his career by this point, with two of those, including his brutal KO loss to Juan Manuel Marquez as part of the Pacquiao vs Marquez quadrilogy, occurring in the five year span between the fights original date and actual date.
When the pair did finally fight it was massive. Mayweather, whose toughest test was a journeyman, won by unanimous decision, but the real victory was the records broken, as the fight destroyed previous records for PPV buys and revenue.
Many believe the fight might’ve been closer had it happened when it was originally planned.
One heavyweight legend believed Manny Pacquiao beat Floyd Mayweather
According to BoxRec, Evander Holyfield, the legendary cruiserweight turned heavyweight, said of the fight:
“Well, I actually thought he [Pacquiao] did [win the fight]. The fact of the matter is you are the most aggressive one, you hitting him with shots. He was the one blocking shots.
Pacquiao seemed to hit him more times than he hit Pacquiao. Didn’t nobody hurt each other real bad but the fact of the matter is if don’t nobody hurt each other bad and one guy is throwing the most punches, then how do you score the card?”
The fight was scored 118-110, 116-112, 116-112.