Mayweather vs. Pacquiao
IN PHOTO: Floyd Mayweather, Jr. of the U.S. (L) lands a right against Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines in the sixth round during their welterweight WBO, WBC and WBA (Super) title fight in Las Vegas, Nevada, May 2, 2015. REUTERS/Steve Marcus

The boos rained loudly when the decision was announced at celebrity-filled MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada but it couldn’t drown out one clear fact: that Floyd Mayweather Jr. was on a different class as a boxer in his super fight against Manny Pacquiao on Saturday.

Mayweather Jr. did not win over most of the crowd of 16,500 in the arena but he did win over the three judges for the match, Dave Moretti, Glenn Feldman and Burt Clements, who all scored in the American’s favour, 118-110, 116-112 and 116-112, respectively.

The post-fight stats also agreed with the judges’ decision to give Mayweather Jr. majority of the rounds. According to Compubox, Mayweather Jr. landed 148 of 435 total punches (34% success rate) he fired at Pacquiao, who could only land 81 of 429 punches (19%). It was the same story on the jabs landed and thrown—67 of 267 (25%) for Mayweather and 18 of 193 (9%) for Pacquiao.

Pacquiao, who is known for his knockout prowess, did fire more power punches against Mayweather Jr., 236-168. However, Pacquiao landed only 63 for 27% while Mayweather Jr. connected 81 times for 48%-- once again proving his world-class precision and accuracy in this matche like he did in his previous 47 bouts before Saturday’s super fight.

Mayweather Jr. (48-0-0, 26 knockouts) remained undefeated after the clinical win against Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 knockouts), who is now just 3-3 in his last six bouts. Mayweather Jr. said in interviews that he’s going to fight one last time in September 2015 before calling it quits in the sport of boxing. Pacquiao’s plans weren’t discussed mentioned although Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, said they wanted a rematch against Mayweather Jr.

While the numbers favoured Mayweather Jr., Pacquiao was the clear favourite in the arena as the Filipino got more cheers than his American counterpart during the match and even after the decision was announced.

None of that matter for Mayweather Jr. however as he successfully unified the title belts in the welterweight division; protected his immaculate record and most importantly, gained the status as “the best ever” at least in this generation.

To contact author of this article, email j.quizon@IBTimes.com.au.

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