Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao, billed as the Fight of the Century or the Battle for Greatness,Nathanielsz, Ronnie (March 14, 2015). "Arum: Pacquiao Will Do a De La Hoya Job on Mayweather". BoxingScene. Retrieved March 14, 2015. was a professional boxing match between undefeated five-division world champion and WBA (Unified), WBC, and The Ring welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. and eight-division world champion and WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao for the unified world welterweight championship. It took place on May 2, 2015, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada. Mayweather Jr. won the contest by unanimous decision, with two judges scoring it 116–112 and the other 118–110. Despite being one of the most highly anticipated sporting events in history, the fight was widely regarded as underwhelming by critics and fans alike upon its broadcast.
Despite predictions that Mayweather–Pacquiao would be the highest-grossing fight in history as early as 2009, disagreements between the two professional boxers' camps on terms for the fight prevented the bout from coming to fruition until 2015. The failure to arrange the Mayweather–Pacquiao fight was named the 2010 Event of the Year by The Ring. Serious negotiations were kickstarted in 2014 by an unlikely source: a Hollywood waiter and part-time actor, Gabriel Salvador, made a key introduction between Pacquiao's trainer and confidant Freddie Roach and CBS President Les Moonves, who both worked to facilitate the match. By 2015, negotiations for the fight had been finalized, with all of the major issues that prevented the fight from happening in the past resolved, including purse split, drug testing, and location.
The fight was televised through a pay-per-view (PPV) jointly produced by HBO and Showtime, the respective rightsholders of Pacquiao and Mayweather. In the Philippines, the fight was also broadcast in simulcast across three of the country's major broadcast television networks. The fight was expected to be the most lucrative in the history of professional boxing: with an initial estimate of 4.4 million purchases, the PPV alone broke revenue records in the United States (U.S.) with $410 million in revenue, making it the highest-grossing PPV in history, surpassing Mayweather–Álvarez in 2013. By September 2015, the figure had been amended to 4.6 million.Iole, Kevin (September 10, 2015). "Showtime's Stephen Espinoza: Mayweather deal a resounding success". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved December 17, 2015.Rafael, Dan (September 18, 2015). "Sources: Mayweather-Berto draws between 400K and 550K PPV buys". ESPN. Retrieved December 17, 2015.Gaines, Cork (September 17, 2015). "Floyd Mayweather's last fight was a complete disaster, and nobody watched it". Business Insider. Axel Springer SE. Retrieved December 17, 2015.Riccobono, Anthony (September 18, 2015). "Floyd Mayweather News: In Last Fight, Floyd Makes Far Less Than Manny Pacquiao Bout". International Business Times. IBT Media. Retrieved December 17, 2015. The broadcast of the fight in the Philippines was watched by nearly half the country's households. Due to the record high price of the PPV, the fight was also widely broadcast through unauthorized online streams on services such as Periscope.
Despite the large amount of hype that surrounded it, critics felt that the bout itself was disappointing, primarily citing Mayweather's defense-oriented strategy in the ring and Pacquiao's difficulty in landing punches on Mayweather. This had led to some critics re-labelling the fight "Better Never Than Late" rather than "Fight of the Century". It was later revealed following the event that Pacquiao had sustained an undisclosed injury to his right shoulder while training and that while it had healed in time for the fight, he re-injured it during the fourth round. Further controversy emerged when it was revealed that prior to the fight, Mayweather had been administered IV fluids cleared by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) through a retroactive "therapeutic use exemption"—an exemption, however, not authorized by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC).
Background On June 6, 2008, Floyd Mayweather announced his retirement from boxing, six months after defeating Ricky Hatton by a tenth-round technical knockout. At the time, plans were in motion for a rematch with Oscar De La Hoya on September 20, 2008, Mayweather having defeated him the previous year by split decision. "This decision was not an easy one for me to make as boxing is all I have done since I was a child," Mayweather said. "However, these past few years have been extremely difficult for me to find the desire and joy to continue in the sport." At the time of his retirement, the 31-year-old Mayweather had an unblemished professional record of 39 wins and no losses, and was ranked by The Ring as the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, with Manny Pacquiao at No. 2.
During Mayweather's brief retirement, Pacquiao earned superstar status in much of the Western world with his eighth-round technical knockout victory over Oscar De La Hoya, for which he moved up two weight classes from lightweight to welterweight (135 pounds to 147 pounds), and cemented his place as the new pound-for-pound No.1.
On May 2, 2009, the day of Pacquiao's fight against Ricky Hatton, Mayweather announced that he was coming out of retirement and would fight Juan Manuel Márquez, The Ring lightweight champion and No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter, on July 18, 2009, in a welterweight non-title fight. Márquez had previously fought Pacquiao on two occasions: they fought to a 12-round draw on May 8, 2004, and Pacquiao was awarded a 12-round split decision win on March 15, 2008. Mayweather played down Pacquiao's newfound stardom at his press conference, stating: "If he wins tonight, don't be all shocked ... Cause guess what? I beat (Hatton) when he was undefeated. Pacquiao beat Oscar, it don't matter. Going down to 147 pounds was too much for (De La Hoya), he was dead after the first round. ... When you talk boxing, you talk Floyd Mayweather."
Pacquiao would go on to defeat Hatton by a second-round knockout to win The Ring junior welterweight title. The win made him the second boxer in history to win titles in six weight divisions, the first being Oscar De La Hoya.
Mayweather vs. Márquez was postponed until September 19, 2009, due to a rib injury suffered by Mayweather. Despite being out of the ring for 21 months, Mayweather looked as sharp as ever and dominated the fight, winning by a lopsided 12-round unanimous decision. After the bout, Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe stated that a fight with Pacquiao was the "next obvious choice from a marketing standpoint."
On November 14, 2009, Pacquiao stopped Puerto Rican star Miguel Cotto in round 12 to win the WBO welterweight title, becoming boxing's first ever seven-weight world champion. Pacquiao's victory sparked a media frenzy and fans were quick to demand a fight between him and Mayweather to determine the best fighter in the world.
First negotiations On December 5, 2009, ESPN reported that Pacquiao signed a contract to fight Mayweather on March 13, 2010. Shortly afterward, Pacquiao denied ever signing a contract to fight Mayweather, telling FanHouse, "There are still some things that need to be negotiated." On December 11, Golden Boy Promotions sent an eight-page contract to Top Rank, proposing a 50–50 financial split for a fight to take place on March 13, 2010. The contract was very detailed, including such matters as who would weigh-in first (Pacquiao), who would enter the ring first (Pacquiao) and who would be introduced first (Mayweather). The contract included an HBO PPV showing at a cost of $59.95. Billing was to be "Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, presented by Top Rank, Golden Boy Promotions, Mayweather Promotions, and M-P Promotions in association with [approved sponsors and the site]." Also included in the contract was Olympic-style drug testing. Venues for the fight being discussed were Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, and the Superdome in New Orleans.
In a video titled "Boxing Legend Freddie Roach Updates Us On Pacquiao" uploaded to YouTube on December 11, 2009, Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, revealed the first hint about Mayweather's request for Olympic-style drug testing, telling roving reporter Elie Seckbach, "I hear negotiations are a little shady. (Richard) Schaefer and them are unhappy about something. They want Olympic-style drug testing. I said, 'Yeah, no problem.' I said, 'Whatever you want.' Since we accepted that, now they're running scared again."
On December 13, 2009, Pacquiao's adviser, Michael Koncz, said Mayweather's request for Olympic-style drug testing was a laughing matter and they had no concerns whatsoever about it. "Our reaction is, 'So what?' We know Manny doesn't take any illegal drugs or anything. And none of this is getting under Manny's skin or anything. I'm here with Manny, and to him, it's like a joke. It's a laughing matter," said Koncz.
After reports had surfaced that both parties had agreed to all terms, Golden Boy Promotions released a press release on December 22, 2009, revealing that Pacquiao was unwilling to comply with the Olympic-style drug testing requested by Team Mayweather. The following day, Bob Arum, Top Rank founder and CEO, declared the fight was off and Pacquiao would be facing a different opponent. "We appeased Mayweather by agreeing to a urine analysis at any time, and blood testing before the press conference and after the fight. Mayweather pressed for blood testing even up to the weigh-in. He knew that Manny gets freaked out when his blood gets taken and feels that it weakens him. This is just harassment and, to me, just signaled that he didn't want the fight," Arum told David Mayo of the Grand Rapids Press.
Not long after declaring that the fight was off, Arum had a change of heart and offered Mayweather a 24-hour take-it-or-leave-it deadline to accept Team Pacquiao's terms for drug testing. Top Rank sent out a press release explaining their position on Mayweather's request for random Olympic-style drug testing. In it, Arum said Pacquiao was willing to submit to as many random urine tests requested, but as far as random blood tests were concerned, he was only willing to subject himself to three tests: one in January, one 30 days from the bout (no later than February 13) and immediately after the fight. "Let's be very clear on the real issues we differ on. It's not about being tested ... It's about who does the testing and the scheduling of the procedures ... The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) cannot do it because they will not amend its procedures to accommodate the blood testing schedule we have outlined. USADA, under its guidelines, would have the right to administer random blood tests as many times as they want up to weigh-in day and that is ludicrous," Arum explained. Freddie Roach told Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times on December 22, 2009, that he would prefer for Pacquiao to give his final blood sample a week before the bout and no later than 72 hours before.
On December 28, 2009, video from an episode of HBO's Pacquiao–Hatton: 24/7 surfaced on the internet showing Pacquiao giving blood in the weeks leading up to his May 2, 2009, bout with Ricky Hatton. Documents confirmed that the video was recorded on April 8, 2009, 24 days prior to the fight and past the 30-day cut-off date that Pacquiao had demanded for a Mayweather fight. Pacquiao filed suit in U.S. District Court in Nevada on December 30, 2009, against Floyd Mayweather Jr., Floyd Mayweather Sr., Roger Mayweather, Mayweather Promotions, and Golden Boy Promotions executives Oscar De La Hoya and Richard Schaefer, alleging that they made false and defamatory statements accusing him of taking performance-enhancing drugs.