In the end, boxing's most anticipated fight in recent memory only reinforced what we already knew: Floyd Mayweather is the greatest fighter of his generation.
Mayweather didn't show fight fans anything they hadn't already seen last night. He didn't add an interesting new wrinkle to his style or provide any wow moments. Instead, he fought his fight. Smart, controlled, calculated, and it earned him a unanimous decision over Manny Pacquiao.
Judge Dave Moretti scored the fight 118-110 while both Glenn Feldman and Burt Clements had it 116-112, extending Mayweather's unbeaten streak to 48-0.
But what happened last night wasn't just a competition between two athletes, it was an international event. The fight, five years in the making, was one of the biggest moments in recent sports history. It was the type of cultural happening that sucked in the uninitiated. Even my mother, who still refers to boxing gloves as "mittens," was interested.
Did it deliver on all of that hype?
Yes and no. There was never a moment of real drama throughout the twelve rounds. Mayweather, whose tactical skills would be the source of envy for even the greatest chess masters, danced around Pacquiao all night, never allowing his more powerful foe to land a punch of real significance.
"He's a hell of a fighter. I take my hat off to Manny Pacquiao," Mayweather said after the fight. "Now I see why he's one of the guys at the pinnacle."
Mayweather, a five-division champion, won Pacquiao's 147-pound world title and added another brick to his foundation as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
But more importantly, Mayweather cemented his legacy as the fighter of this generation. With wins over the likes of Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto, Ricky Hatton, Juan Manuel Marquez and Shane Mosley, there can be no doubt about that any longer.
Although this fight may have been just a bit more interesting five years ago, Mayweather isn't lamenting the delay in this match up.
"He is a true champion at heart, and we both did our best tonight. When the books are written, it will be a great fight," he said.
Some in attendance that night or watching at home may not share Mayweather's opinion of the somewhat anticlimactic bout. But there is no dispute over the fight's footprint. It generated a live gate of roughly $74 million. The pay-per-view buys are expected to topple the previous record (2.48 million) while the revenue generated is expected to surpass $150 million (both records previously set by, you guessed it, Floyd Mayweather).
Those numbers tell us that we may not condone inexcusable behavior but we won't let it get in the way of good entertainment.
Mayweather has been involved in a series of domestic violence incidents over the years. Knowing that, it was interesting to see him fight not with rage but with complete control. The man who has allegedly struck multiple women relied on defense and an almost lack of confrontation to win his fight last night. I was both enthralled and disturbed by his performance, unable to fully separate Mayweather the boxer from Mayweather the person. How is this man who has a track record of egregious violent acts able to single-handedly captivate the entire world? And what does it say about us that we can't look away?
Mayweather is a walking enigma. He is both charming and engaging while also being brutish and vulgar. He can rally a crowd to his cause or decimate any good will from the public in a single sound bite. He's an undefeated champion with a boring style of fighting. Everything about him seems to be a contradiction.
Film director David Ayer recently described a new version of the iconic Batman villain The Joker as a "beautiful disaster." That's how I feel about Mayweather.
In the end, Mayweather didn't give the fans the exciting brawl they had hoped for, but we should be used to that by now. This is a man who has never cared about what other people think.
His legacy as a boxer is in check, but his reputation as a person? That's an entirely different story.
