It rained crores for both the winner and loser !
– and what unimaginable amounts !! -
like the ‘ball of the century’ that bemused Gatting, it was dubbed ‘fight of the century’ - ~at the arena, it was great hype - viewers across the United States complained
their paid for viewing - at $99 a piece - was crashing. Record sales of more than four million had
been predicted before the flight on Saturday, carrying the gross value revenue from
the richest fight of all time above half a billion dollars. DirecTV, which serves the entire US, were
suffering black-outs. It was a boxing
bout – not the ones we read earlier of that
legendary match in which Muhammad
Ali beat Sonny Liston to become heavyweight champion of the world. Things have changed !
In what was touted as
‘fight of the century’, they rewarded him with cascading waves of boos. To
stand and peer around the darkened arena in Mayweather's moment of triumph was
to see a striking sight, as most of those booing appeared to be not Filipino
fans of the beaten Manny Pacquiao but Americans, white and black. How the refs
judged it: 118-110, 116-112, 116-112.
The 38-year-old favorite conquered the Filipino in front of thousands of
boxing fans and celebrities who had flown into Sin City from around the world
just to be ringside for the historic bout.
Mayweather made a surprisingly strong start, then withstood some
aggressive counter-punching by the Filipino southpaw in the later rounds as he
improved his career record to 48-0.The battered
Manny Pacquiao narrowly lost the
fight of the century to Floyd Mayweather... who walked away with
$180MILLION in winnings; while Pacquiao
will take home around $120million.
Some media broke it down by
the second, but think of it this way; Pacquiao took in about $1.4 million per
punch landed. Floyd Mayweather beat
Manny Pacquiao by unanimous decision in
a fight that was widely ridiculed by boxing fans for being boring and simply
not worth the time and money. Mayweather’s highly defensive boxing style didn’t
deliver the excitement many fans were hoping for, though it did improve his
record to 48-0. There were also
specuations that an injury to Manny
Pacquiao would rule out a rematch with Floyd Mayweather, - The attraction for
both men is obvious with Mayweather estimated to have earned $180m [1150 crores
! is that right ?] and Pacquiao $120m.
Today comes the news that Floyd
Mayweather will face Andre Berto on Sept. 12 for the final fight of his career,
the undefeated boxer revealed on Instagram.Mayweather (48-0, 26 knockouts) will
defend his welterweight world titles against Berto (30-3, 23 knockouts), in an
attempt to match the late heavyweight champion Rocky Maricano’s 49-0 record.
Showtime pay-per-view will broadcast the fight from the MGM Grand Garden Arena
in Las Vegas.Mayweather, who defeated Manny Pacquiao in a fight in May, said in a statement: “I’m ready
to get back in the ring on September 12 and prove again to the whole world why
I’m ‘The Best Ever’ … Forty-eight have tried before and on September 12, I’m
going to make it 49.”
Andre Michael Berto, is a Haitian-American professional boxer who
is a two-time Welterweight champion and the current WBA Welterweight Interim
Champion. Berto was an odds-on favorite
to breeze through the 2004 Olympic Trials and qualify as a member of the US
Olympic boxing squad. Those dreams were dashed in the opening round of the
trials, when he was disqualified for throwing Juan McPherson to the canvas.
Berto was winning the fight, before McPherson bumped into him before being
pushed to the canvas, and was deemed in no condition to continue. The act was
ruled a flagrant foul, and Berto was disqualified. Because his parents
emigrated from Haiti, Berto was able to keep his Olympic hopes alive,
qualifying for Team Haiti, and subsequently granted Haitian citizenship
alongside his American nationality, an exception the island country awarded the
Olympian. Berto lost in the first-round to Xavier Noel of France.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
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