It was undoubtedly one of the most prodigious fights of the century, a 21st century Ali-Frazier “rumble in the Jungle,” with media coverage overshadowing that of any other fight.

It is uncommon to unify the different titles into one competition in boxing due its highly fickle nature. However, the conquistador of Saturday’s battle, boxing legend Floyd Mayweather, now the undefeated winner of 48 matches, is the world champion.

In the world of professional sports, boxing great Evander Holyfield expressed his exhilaration to CNN’s Don Riddell ahead of the fight. Antonio Tarver, former light heavyweight champion said, “We should see a classic fight on a classic night,” and further elaborated that, “it [w]ould go down in boxing folklore as one of the greatest fights of all time.”

It took only a minute for tickets to be sold out, and the proceeds from the fight reached up to 400 million dollars. However, the spotlight is off now, and the aftermath of the fight poses a question: has the sport witnessed just another glamorous fight, or will the combat between Pacquiao and Mayweather go down in the annals of history?

Bob Dorfman, the executive creative director of the Baker Street advertising agency and author of the Sports Marketer’s Scouting Report, insisted, “The fight should’ve happened five years ago, when these two boxers were in their prime, when this could’ve developed into an [ongoing] rivalry, that it could’ve been some sort of a franchise that could’ve built [interest in] the sport.”

According to the judges’ unanimous decision, it was clearly Mayweather’s victory.  After 12 enormously intense and strenuous rounds, the scorecards at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas read 118-110, 116-112, and 116-112 in favor of Mayweather. However, some of the audience seems to think that the decision was unfair. They argue that Mayweather was just running around, dodging Pacquiao.

The surprising thing about this match is the number of scandals that came after it. Pacquiao was discovered to have kept a secret: he had been injured during his training but pretended to be fine for the match. The problem is that someone from the boxer’s camp checked “No” on a medical questionnaire when asked if the fighter had any injury on his shoulder. The lawsuit insists fraudulent concealment, because the injury was not revealed until after the fight. Pacquiao will be tried for this offense soon. He went through surgery for the injury so that he could make a full recovery after the fight on Saturday. The procedure was apparently successful, as surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache said he could not be “more pleased with the results.”

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Mayweather was suddenly sued by her ex-girlfriend, Josie Harris, his ex-wife and mother of his three children, for lying about her during the interview held before the match. Mayweather argued that she was on drugs during an incident that led him to spend two months in jail for domestic violence.

All in all, this match was excitement from start to finish, and an important event for boxing fans everywhere. And the drama continues.

Source: cnn.com