The appeal of Floyd Mayweather is something of a mystery to me. Oh, I don't mean because he's a wife-beating, cash-flashing a-hole. Boxing isn't exactly a sport that we watch to celebrate the morality of its stars. (See also: Tyson, Mike.) His being a wife-beating, cash-flashing a-hole is kind of beside the point.
No, I find it confusing that people enjoy watching him fight because he's so boring. Mayweather's a great defensive fighter—he's almost impossible to hit, as solid as smoke—and his hands are so quick and accurate that he makes anyone who stumbles in for a flurry pay. But the 48-o fighter relies on that defense almost exclusively: Since 2006, he's knocked out just two boxers. This was the easiest fight to predict of all time. He makes guys miss and lands a straight right and dances away. Rinse and repeat. Yawn.
The first six rounds last night were entertaining enough, I guess, because Manny Pacquiao was taking the fight to Mayweather. But he pretty clearly got discouraged as the evening went along: his flurries weren't landing flush and they almost all ended with a straight right to the nose—from Mayweather. It's hard to blame him for petering out as things went along. Floyd is like a robot in the ring, a cyborg with unbelievable head speed and hand speed and an uncanny ability to target. I bet his midi-chlorian count is off the charts. I can practically envision Qui Gon Jinn watching him in the ring, muttering, "He can see things before they happen. That's why he appears to have such quick reflexes. It's a Jedi trait."
This is the second time I've paid for a Mayweather fight, but I should've known better. I vowed never again after the last one. He's just got nothing on the Eastern European fighters currently on the scene. The best fight last night wasn't MayPac; it was LomRod. Vasyl Lomachenko dismantled Gamalier Rodriguez in the first undercard fight, landing 227 punches en route to a ninth-round knockout. Lomachenko—along with guys like Gennady Golovkin and Ruslan Provodnikov—is just fun to watch. They're fighters.
And, as a bonus, they're cheaper to watch. Golovkin (32-0, 29 knockouts) fights on HBO in two weekends. Pound for pound, Floyd Mayweather may be the best boxer out there. But dollar for dollar? Golovkin's your guy.