Clash of Titans: Mayweather vs. Pacquiao

On May second, two, thy fifteen, the most highly anticipated welterweight boxing match happens when Floyd Mayweather faces off versus Manny Pacquiao, shattering financial records and leaving the audience scratching their heads. Learn all about this today on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide to a rapid deep dive into sports history every day. Now, before we get into this fight, let's look into both the boxers and how they got to this moment. Floyd Mayweather Junior was born Floyd Joy Sinclair and he later changed his name when he got into boxing because his father, Floyd Mayweather Senior, was a former welter weight contender who fought Hall of Famer Sugar Ray Leonard, and his uncles Jeff and Roger Mayweather were also professional fighters as well, so Floyd may have been destined to be a boxer. And he had a rough childhood growing up as his mother struggled with drugs and his father was a drug dealer, and it caused him to bounce around from house to house and maybe use some of his frustration in the ring. As an amateur, he would go on to win the national gold Gloves in nineteen ninety three with an amateur record of eighty four wins in eight losses, and in nineteen ninety six he would go on to win the bronze medal in the featherweight division and would start his career as a super featherweight and shortly after the Olympics in nineteen ninety six and would win his first title in nineteen ninety eight when he won the WBC super Featherweight title and at the time had a record of eighteen and zero, and he would win multiple different weight class titles, also winning the title for the lightweight, the light welterweight, the welterweight, and the light middleweight, and at the time he faced off against Many Pakiow, he had an undefeated record of forty seven and zero now Manny Pakiow was born and raised in the Philippines to a large family of seven kids, which was a strain on the family and by the age of fourteen, he was living on the streets working as a construction worker, sending whatever money he could give back to his mother. But he found refuge in the boxing ring and saw it as a way for him and his family to break out of poverty, and he got into boxing at the age of twelve after watching the Mike Tyson Buster Douglas fight with his uncle Sardu Majia. Seeing how much many loved it, Sardou took him under his wing and started training him, leading him to an amateur record of sixty wins and four losses, and in January nineteen ninety five, at the age of only sixteen, he made his professional debut as a junior flyweight and he won his first title on June twenty sixth, nineteen ninety seven, winning the OPBF flyweight title, and he had won titles in multiple weight classes as well, holding titles in the flyweight, the supermantaweight, the featherweight, the super featherweight, the lightweight, the light welterweight, the welterweight, and the light middleweight, and entering the fight versus Floyd Mayweather, he had a record of fifty seven five and two At the time. The two boxers were thought of to be the top of the boxing game in two thousand and nine when they first agreed to fight on March third, twenty ten, with the total prize of fifty million dollars that they agreed to split as well as they would each receive revenue from the pay per view, But this is when all the dramas started. The problem was Mayweather wanted Olympic drug testing, which evolved random blood and urine test all the way up to the start of the fight, and Pakiow was not one that enjoyed blood tests and he thought blood tests drained him too much for a fight and would only agree to do it thirty days before a fight. But Mayweather's team would not back down from this and they called the fight off. But Pacquiao's team gave them a counter offer, said they would do the blood test all the way up to the way in, and they gave Mayweather all the way till July twenty ten to agree to a fight in November, but that date came and passed with no agreement in place, so the two broke off negotiations and went on to continue fighting, and the fight seemed like it would never happen again until twenty twelve, when Mayweather booked the Mgan Grand Arena for May fifth, twenty twelve, and publicly offered the chance for Pakiao to fight him on that date, moving the negotiations to a public forum and allowing fans to get even more excited. But the problem was Mayweather had some issues with the law and was actually in court after he allegedly assaulted his ex girlfriend in twenty ten and December twenty eleven, he was sentenced to ninety days in jail, which would put that May fifth date in jeopardy. But Mayweather had some shifty lawyers that were able to convince the judge to push off his date, and the judge eventually suspended his sentence to allow him to fight in order to garner more revenue for the city of Las Vegas. So Mayweather again calls out Pacquiao after his sentence is suspended, but Pacquiao again responds that it's not enough time for him to train for a fight. Maybe at the end of May, but not the beginning, and then Paquio says he'll do it as long as they get a fifty to fifty split of the purse, but Mayweather won't agree to the fifty to fifty split this time, and so the two fighters go off again to fight other fights that year, not agreeing to a deal, and over the next few years they would continue to taunt each other in the media and Mayweather would continuously challenge Pakiao to a fight, but getting no responses until two thousand and fourteen, when the Showtime network gets involved and wants the chance for the fight, offering historical heydays for both fighters, and on January thirteenth, two thousand and fifteen, Pacquiao and Mayweather finally agreed to a fight on May sewo twenty fifteen, and the fight that took over six years in the making would finally be seen by the world. Tickets for the fight were going for seven thousand dollars as if it was being held at the MGM Grand just under seventeen thousand incapacity, and it was such a big fight that the in ring referee earned a record twenty five thousand dollars for officiating the fight, and the broadcasting was a joint production with HBO and Showtime both offering the fight. So the fight finally begins in round one and both boxers come out aggressive, trying to earn points in that first round, with Mayweather landing solid shots to Pacquiao's right side, and all three judges gave Mayweather the round, and this continued during the first four rounds. Mayweather had won every single round, but not by much. It was a slow burn of a fight, no one landed any haymakers and no one giving a good chance to take over the lead. Though Mayweather won the first four rounds on the scorecards, Pacquiao came out in the following three rounds and showed his grit, winning the next three, becoming the aggressor, and they would go back and forth during the twelve round match, with no one landing any solid blows and many jabs going back and forth. There was almost no excitement in the fight and it seemed like both fighters were just fighting for points, and when the bell rang after the twelfth round, no one knew who actually won, as no one stood out as both fighters went to their corners awaiting the judge's results. Despite not dominating any round, Floyd Mayweather comes out on top, winning a unanimous decision and remaining undefeated in his career as he landed sixty seven punches throughout the match, connecting on thirty four percent of the time, while limiting Pakiao to only nineteen percent. Despite many critics and celebrities all claiming the fight was one of the most boring things they've ever seen and that both fighters looked like they were just in there for a payday, and its reported that Floyd Mayweather Junior took home two hundred and fifty million dollars after this fight, and many Pacquiao took less share from the fight, but came away with one hundred and sixty million dollars, making it the largest financial boxing match of all time, with a total fighting gross of over six hundred million dollars, the likes of which may never happen again as boxing has declined in popularity in recent years. But maybe all we need is another long drawn out time to a boxing match, such as Mayweather and Pacquiao did, waiting over six years before they actually fought. Both fighters have since retired, as Mayweather finished undefeated, though he hasn't closed the door with chances to come back and fight even more and many Pacquiao's retired, but took a different approach, getting into politics and becoming a senator in his home in the Philippines, and even had a failed attempt at running for president for the Philippines. Though this fight may have not gone down as the greatest of all time, it was still a spectacle with the amount of money thrown into it and the amount of time it took before the fight actually took place. It was a great time for boxing. It may have been the last glory boxing may have as the UFC has taken over the fighting world. We will only see what happens next in boxing. Thank you for listening to today's Daily Sports History. It means a lot to me. And if you like this, please go tell a friend talk about all the history you're learning every single day on Daily Sports History and we'll see you tomorrow.