One of my passions has always been sports.  back in the 11th grade 1990/91 boxing started to replace football as my favorite sport, which is a close second third place being basketball.  I wanted to do something sports related.  My 5 favorite teams?  I only have 3 teams that I’m passionate about. 1. USC Trojans (all sports) 2. Portland Trailblazers 3. Oregon Ducks (all sports).  Yes in that order.    Since I started to pay attention to boxing Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao was the most anticipated boxing match.  There have been other big fights in that time.  Pernell Whitaker vs. Julio Cesar Chavez, Roy Jones Jr. vs. James Toney, and Lennox Lewis vs. Mike Tyson.  All three were one sided  affairs.  Even if Julio Cesar Chavez got an undeserved draw. In two of those three fights we should have seen it coming. More so Lewis Tyson than Whitaker vs. Chavez.  Jones Jr. and Toney were more even going in, and Toney was considered to be the better boxer.  We also should have seen that Mayweather vs. Pacquiao would also be one sided.

Why was this fight so hyped?  It was the first mega fight between two boxers who’s entire careers have been within the internet age.  Lewis/Tyson was in 2002, but both boxers started their careers before the internet had a foothold.  Another reason is that Mayweather who has boxing skills and talents to match any boxer is openly very arrogant.  It’s a trait a lot of great boxers have Muhammad Ali for example.  Mayweather’s arrogance has rubbed people the wrong way and since Mayweather took over as the best boxer in the world those who didn’t like him started looking for someone to beat him.  Since 2010 that someone was Manny Pacquiao.  The fight was all but made back than, but Pacquiao backed out over mutual performance enhancing drug testing.  Terms he only agreed to after losing a close fight to Timothy Bradley and getting knocked out by a perfectly timed right hand from Juan Manuel Marquez.  Boxing is the definition of a niche sport.   If you were to turn on ESPN or go to Bleacher Report for example you’d think that outside of their boxing staff their knowledge of boxing began and ended with Mayweather & Pacquiao.  You can’t expect every sport to be front and center, but when an obsession with a fight blinds people to possible opponents who would have a better chance at beating Floyd Mayweather such as Keith Thurman or that Mayweather may have already beaten someone who was more qualified going into the fight to beat him than Pacquiao ever was in Saul Alvarez.

If you had asked me before the fight I would have told you that I’m not rooting for either to win or lose. (boxing is a demanding sport.  I appreciate the skills and effort more than than I root one way or another), but I would have told you thay Mayweather is going to win and it’s not going to be close, and that’s what exactly happened .