Did the match do more harm or good for boxing?

[Ariza's Shakes]

It was a Floyd Mayweather Jr. masterclass (again) but with every single casual dissing the match as 'boring' and 'a waste of money', did Boxing attract new fans who will watch the sport regularly? Us hardcore fans knew exactly how this fight was going to go and it was going to be a relatively easy night for Floyd. Never troubled and there is no one out there that can match Floyd's boxing brain. Manny looked like he didn't know wtf was going on.

Thoughts?

[Johnwoo8686]

Honestly speaking, it did way more harm to the sport. This was probably the biggest fight we've had in years and both guys played it way too safe. I expected more from both honestly. And if you were not a boxing fan before this fight you certainly won't be one now.

I knew it would be a high speed chess match but damn, each man could have done more to entertain the crowd... especially Floyd. He had Manny in range and sometimes didn't throw his right hand. It reminded me of Klitsckho's performance last week.

[broblin]

Honestly speaking, it did way more harm to the sport. This was probably the biggest fight we've had in years and both guys played it way too safe. I expected more from both honestly. And if you were not a boxing fan before this fight you certainly won't be one now.

I knew it would be a high speed chess match but damn, each man could have done more to entertain the crowd... especially Floyd. He had Manny in range and sometimes didn't throw his right hand. It reminded me of Klitsckho's performance last week.

Well also you have to realize that most of the casual fans don't really know about the things in Manny Pacquiao that Floyd Mayweather can exploit, so many probably had unrealistic expectations.

Despite the hype most of us (the more hard core fans, boxers, trainers, etc) were pretty sure that Floyd would not stand and trade with Manny. We knew that for Manny to have any real chance he'd have to revert back to his whirlwind reckless style and take a ton of risks.

Floyd didn't trade, but the story is that Manny could not adjust and had no answers for what was in front of him. He didn't use his footspeed to at least try to cut off the ring, and his punch output was pedestrian.

I, too, was hoping I was wrong about this fight. I thought if anyone could bring back something resembling the old Pacquiao, it was Mayweather. From the outset you could tell that this was going to be tough for him, and except for those few seconds in the 4th round when he seemed to stun Mayweather, it was just as predictable as most of us thought.

[slimshandy69]

It was a Floyd Mayweather Jr. masterclass (again) but with every single casual dissing the match as 'boring' and 'a waste of money', did Boxing attract new fans who will watch the sport regularly? Us hardcore fans knew exactly how this fight was going to go and it was going to be a relatively easy night for Floyd. Never troubled and there is no one out there that can match Floyd's boxing brain. Manny looked like he didn't know wtf was going on.

Thoughts?

Harm, Floyd and Manny at Welter weight threw less than world elite Heavyweights.

Pathetic fight, and if Aldo and Connor mcgregor is a sucess than Boxing could be finished.

[Boxfan7819]

It definitely does more harm and to even consider it the fight of the century is ridiculous

[WARQUEZ]

Neither, this was just an event that brought eyes to the sport. Floyd and Pac won't harm the sport unless they retire without a young fighter beating them. This is the time for a Keith Thurman and a Terence Crawford to step up and to be given an opportunity to take the throne.

The sport will be on life support if Floyd or Pac retire undefeated from here on out.

[////]

The same people who believed this would be the "fight of the century" probably know so little about boxing that they couldn't tell it ******.

Nobody needs to inform them that it ******. Let them think they witnessed something amazing.

Moot point really.

[bojangles1987]

Honestly speaking, it did way more harm to the sport. This was probably the biggest fight we've had in years and both guys played it way too safe. I expected more from both honestly. And if you were not a boxing fan before this fight you certainly won't be one now.

I knew it would be a high speed chess match but damn, each man could have done more to entertain the crowd... especially Floyd. He had Manny in range and sometimes didn't throw his right hand. It reminded me of Klitsckho's performance last week.

Yeah, neither guy was exactly keeping boxing fans around after that. Mayweather was content to do just enough to win his rounds while Pacquiao was lost trying to chase him. Neither pulled the trigger in spots where they used to.

[!! Shawn]

Well also you have to realize that most of the casual fans don't really know about the things in Manny Pacquiao that Floyd Mayweather can exploit, so many probably had unrealistic expectations.

Despite the hype most of us (the more hard core fans, boxers, trainers, etc) were pretty sure that Floyd would not stand and trade with Manny. We knew that for Manny to have any real chance he'd have to revert back to his whirlwind reckless style and take a ton of risks.

Floyd didn't trade, but the story is that Manny could not adjust and had no answers for what was in front of him. He didn't use his footspeed to at least try to cut off the ring, and his punch output was pedestrian.

I, too, was hoping I was wrong about this fight. I thought if anyone could bring back something resembling the old Pacquiao, it was Mayweather. From the outset you could tell that this was going to be tough for him, and except for those few seconds in the 4th round when he seemed to stun Mayweather, it was just as predictable as most of us thought.

Once its gone its gone, fighters never turn back the clock. Some fighters go from not training for fights, and looking terrible, to actually training, and appearing to turn back the clock, but fighters that always come in shape, once its gone its gone.

[_original_]

Let's be real, even if this fight was a Hagler-Heanrs type battle, casuals would only be interested in a rematch. It probably wouldn't drive many to go look into guys like GGG, Kovalev, Thurman or even Santa Cruz or Lomachenko who fought on the damn card. The fight was always about superstar boxers fighting each other, boxing as a whole is not directly affected by it too much. I'd say things like Al Haymon, HBO/Showtime, NBC, ect. have a larger effect on boxing increasing/decreasing in popularity.