Flight of the century: Manny fails to catch Moneytrain

A five-year wait for that?! Five years in eager anticipation of the “fight of the century” only to be treated to a defending champion happy to duck and spin away towards safety while scoring weak points, from a safe distance, on a spritely contender.

But enough about Kamla versus Keithos; anyone caught the Floyd “Money” Mayweather versus Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao fight last night?

Photo: Follow the Money! Manny "Pacman" Pacquaio (right) tries to keep up with welterweight boxing champion Floyd "Money" Mayweather. (Copyright John Gurzinski/AFP 2015)
Photo: Follow the Money!
Manny “Pacman” Pacquaio (right) tries to keep up with welterweight boxing champion Floyd “Money” Mayweather.
(Copyright John Gurzinski/AFP 2015)

Mr Live Wire hasn’t seen Money move so fast and elusively since Anil Roberts was in charge of the Life Sport programme—or, as the criminal element referred to it: “Who wants to be a Millionaire.”

In Las Vegas last night, Pacquiao had a better chance of stumbling across Jimmy Hoffa’s hiding spot than collaring Mayweather. It was like trying to corner smoke. Or get a straight answer from Finance Minister Larry Howai.

With 48 wins and 0 losses, Mayweather vowed to hang up his gloves after one last fight this September. His statistics suggest greatness. But those with long memories might recall his reluctance to fight his greatest challenger for five years; and then for most of the 12 rounds when they did meet in a ring.

Money used his height and jab to good effect to keep Pacquiao at bay. He is as quick as lightening and a tremendously efficient defensive boxer. His pirouette to Pacman’s right to escape trouble was almost balletic. And he hugged the Philippine so much that spectators might have wondered if it was their anniversary.

But Mayweather rarely tried to dominate the fight and go for blood in the way of the memorable champions of yesteryear.

For Muhammad Ali, his “rope-a-dope” tactic was foreplay before the screaming combinations that left a giant of a man, George Foreman, dazed on his back. Fight fans might not have remembered the “Thriller in Manilla” with as much awe if Ali was still playing an impotent game of “peek-a-boo” at the final bell.

Mayweather was all foreplay last night. And in the end, Pacquiao, like much of the world, was left to ask: what the hell was that all about?

Photo: Done talk!
Photo: Done talk!

Money, in short, was Jose Mourinho with gloves. No matter. He is still the undisputed champion since, for all Manny’s spunk, the contender could not floor him.

Live Wire cannot confirm that Kamla Persad-Bissessar has distributed copies of the fight to her campaign team.

 

Editor’s Note: Former Real Madrid player and coach and Argentina World Cup winner, Jorge Valdano on a dull Liverpool versus Chelsea football match: “Put a stick with shit hanging from it in the middle of this passionate, crazy stadium and there are people who will tell you it’s a work of art. It’s not: it’s shit hanging from a stick.”

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140 comments

  1. Didn’t watch, Lasana . But all the articles I read predicted it would be anti climatic. Spurs/clippers game 7 was great though!

  2. Yikes. I dunno boy. “Respect talent of” “expect to to win” “consider better fighter” but “rooting for” a man who beats women and threatens little children is too major a feat of compartmentalization for my lil brain. Root for his ass to go to prison. Root for him to get some counseling. Maybe…

  3. Floyd = 435 thrown punches, 148 landed = 35%; Manny = 429 thrown punches, 81 landed = 19% = simple math = Floyd won EASILY!!

  4. If yuh gonna dance around a squared circle, then the WWE is where yuh need to be.

  5. You call that a fight?? Never witness so much shit in my life. At least Paquiao made an attempt but the elusive Maywether made a mockery of the sport. Ah never see a Man duck and run so except maybe the former AG. STEUPS!!

  6. de La Hoya should have ran from Bernard Hopkins… lmao

  7. Ravi, I thought he would have shown himself as a great fighter. But he didn’t convince me.

  8. Trevor is right. I’ve never seen de la Hoya run from an opponent.

  9. I have seen Leonard,Hagler,Duran, De La Hoya Hearns they were fighters not runners, Mayweather …the great evader.

  10. What makes mayweather a “great” fighter? I don’t see him as a great fighter. George Forman Muhammad Ali those are great fighters.

  11. Lol, Fayola Bostic I was rooting for Floyd to enter the realm of greatness as a boxer. No doubting he is a very flawed person. But he has so much talent and I was hoping he might still fulfill that.

  12. Ravi, I don’t see LeBron on the same plane as Michael either. David Steffan Huggins, I just thought it was a funny meme and shared it.
    A fight can be great without a knockout. But I don’t think that was the case last night.

  13. I never steups so much in my life. You call that a fight ?? And idiots forked out $100,000 US to watch that pile of shite. All i can say is the Mafia continue to rule and the fights of yesteryear are long gone. Maybe Mayweather had a chat with the former AG on evasive tactics after all. it really was shit hanging from a stick. The lime was good though.

  14. “Root for” you say Lasana??

  15. Is it Fair to say That Lebron James is in the same class as Michael Jordan?

  16. Fayola Bostic that’s exactly right!

  17. I saw your “Manny are you ok?” pic post and figured so…

  18. And, btw, I was rooting for Floyd at the opening bell.

  19. Great athletes are better than efficient. People wanted to see proof of greatness when it mattered.
    That’s why no one is asking for the scorecard. Think about iconic moments in sport.
    Maybe Usain Bolt doing only just enough to beat his field. Or Maradona scoring a tap in against England. Or Brazil screening the ball in the corner against Italy in 1970 rather than scoring a majestic fourth goal.
    Michael Jordan going for the spectacular and not the lay up.
    Guess you don’t understand what I mean.

  20. But by the time Hatton fought Manny he was already deflated… One punch took the wind out of his career…..

  21. Right… You don’t run into Floyd.. Manny understood that..

  22. I saw the Hatton fight against Money and Manny. Not clips. The whole thing.

  23. Leo Santa Cruz vs Jose Cayetano fought on the undercard last night. Noone was knocked out. But that was a fight. Lol.
    Who knows. Maybe years from now, fight fans would be saying: Damn, do you all remember that Mayweather guy who was so good at avoiding fighting? Wish I could watch him try to win fights on points again while keeping a safe distance from his opponents…
    Stuff of legends.

    • Didn’t I predict this would go the distance? Nobody was going to knock out anybody here. money palanced his way to maximum earnings with minimum effort.
      Personally, I feel both camps were cagey since both fighters had exactly one knockout victory between them in the last 5 years. So !obey played a game of Tobsago love with Pacman – keep you away then hug you up close whole freaking night.
      Disappointment ensued.

  24. That is debatable… I don’t know how many of his fights you’ve watched but I cannot base his greatness on his last few fights.. That’d be unfair.. Before Ricky Hatton fought Floyd, many thought he was going to be the one.. That knockout was the beginning of the end for Hatton..

  25. Defense. That’s how he stays undefeated. 48 – 0. 60 – 0 counting girlfriends

  26. If that was supposed to be the fight that saves boxing, then someone call a funeral home… :-/

  27. My view is Manny performance was superior to Floyd’s

  28. Yeah. And that was supposed to be the fight that saved boxing?
    Well, RIP then.

  29. Smart fighter. But not a great one. The great Barcelona team didn’t park the bus. People play to their limitations and Mayweather fought to his. Well then Floyd. But not even he could say that was a great fight. So he might chuckle at his fans who are trying to argue that it was.

  30. We are suckers for a billion dollar hype. Th TV networks, the managers, the hangers-on, the sponsors,…all having a laugh as they check their bank balances today.

  31. That’s why Floyd is on the way out without a blemish.. He isn’t going to go into a brawl and be knocked out because people want to see it.. Smart fighter..

  32. Both fighters barely had a scratch. If that is a great fight then I can just refer to Valdano again. Boxing would never have become a popular sport if the likes of Ali and Tyson fought all their battles like that.

  33. I’m not necessarily disputing that David CB Smith or David Steffan Huggins. I’m saying great fights are two guys trying to win the old way. With a man on the canvass. Ali, Sugar Ray and many others showed that you can do that in an artistic way.
    When you have to check the scorecard to show who landed more punches, it is not a great fight.

  34. Why doesn’t the Boxing Board in America institute the same technology that they have in cricket , ie the heat technology thingie maggie, to ascertain the depth of the punches whether it was a graze or a full on and give level of impact? They have the money to invest in that for a fight of this magnitude. But they cyar handle the shame. They have enough ppl with dvd and home technology to go through that fight and count the punches round for round. If America held that fight in the Philipines and Mayweather lost like that , bet yuh bottom dollar they goin through each round , each punch and analysing . But they invest so much money into their man that they aint going back over nothing.

  35. I’m sure many of us have been watching boxing for years.. Manny did not do enough to beat a champion..

  36. But Mayweather out punched Manny.

    Allyuh haters need to recognise.

  37. Football philosopher Jorge Valdano: Put a stick with shit hanging from it in the middle of this passionate, crazy stadium and there are people who will tell you it’s a work of art. It’s not: it’s shit hanging from a stick.

  38. That’s right boxing is about knocking the opponent out Them really good yes

  39. I agree with you Lasana Liburd

  40. People expected Manny to knock him out based on some youtube clips.. I wondered aloud on my wall if out of the many who supported Manny, how many actually saw Manny fight, or Floyd for that matter.. Nobody could answer in the positive. Floyd is 38 and he has been doing just enough to win his last few fights apart from Hatton and Ortiz of course…

  41. Ali and Frazier went the distance too. But noone had to point to the scorecard for people to know it was a great fight or that both fighters did well.
    People can spot greatness from a mile.

  42. Lol. David CB Smith, even Mayweather could not bring himself to say it was a great fight or a great victory when they asked him more than once after the fight.
    I’m not going to try to change your mind. I won’t say it was a farce. But boxing is usually about trying to knock the other guy out.

  43. Was a great fight. I quite enjoyed it.

    Allyuh is just biased haters.

  44. That is the same reason I stopped watching boxing after the greatest Muhammad and Sugar Ray Leonard era and of course the bitbull Mike Tyson ah set of jokers in these times including the judges steeuuppsss Them really good yes

  45. I think you’re being unfair to Mayweather Lasana. Mayweather fought very well. Manny was more aggressive but aggressive alone doesn’t always mean the better one or winner. Mayweather did well on the defensive but he also scored a lot of punches, some say more so than Manny. It was a great fight. People shouldn’t take anything away from either of the guys.

  46. Smh!! Unanimous???? Really?? Nah man!!!

  47. Lol. What did you think of the fight Vernal Damion Cadogan?

  48. LOL! DID you see the judges ‘score sheet stats”? steups…… They can really work for Kamla, what we need is for a ‘MOODY’ arm of sports investigative reporting to recheck dem ‘scores’ and give us the reality check needed.

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