Returning to relative quiet in the Philippines on Wednesday, Manny Pacquiao said he had gone through and watched the video of his fight with Floyd Mayweather and stuck to his post-bout belief that he was the true victor.
Pacquiao says he accepts the defeat, a unanimous decision in favour of still-undefeated American Mayweather, but that he feels he won by “two points”.
The judges gave the fight to Mayweather handily, 116-112, 116-112, 118-110. Now 48-0, Mayweather landed 67 more punches than Pacquiao according to official fight statistics, using his trademark defensive style to render useless many of Pacquiao’s aggressive flurries.
Nevertheless, Pacquiao says he had the edge.
“I reviewed the fight and kept score. I won by two points ... But a decision has been made and we have to accept it,” he said.
Pacquiao admitted he is now considering retirement, after surgery on a torn rotator cuff in his shoulder that will keep him away from any training for as many as six months.
“I will focus first on healing my shoulder. After that, I will announce continuing my career or announcing retirement,” Pacquiao said.
“I’m not saying I am going to retire, but it’s near. I’m already 36, turning 37 this December.”
Pacquiao underwent the surgery days after his loss in what was billed as the “Fight of the Century”.
Organisers earlier announced on Tuesday the Floyd Mayweather-MannyPacquiao superfight generated US$400 million (Dh1.5 billion) in US revenues fueled by more than 4.4 million pay-per-view buys, making it the highest-grossing fight in boxing history.
The welterweight world championship showdown may have failed to live up to its hype in the ring, but it did meet the goal of becoming the richest fight in boxing history.
It nearly doubled the previous record of 2.48 million buys from a 2007 Mayweather-Oscar De La Hoya fight and also crushed the record by more three times for a live boxing gate, American cable networks HBO and Showtime said in a joint news release.
It generated more than US$71m from the sale of 16,219 tickets at the MGM Grand for a fight between boxing’s two biggest stars that was five years in the making.
The previous record for a live gate was US$20m for Mayweather’s 2013 fight at the MGM’s Grand Garden Arena against Mexico’s Canelo Alvarez. That fight also held the record for US pay-per-view revenue at US$150m.
Organisers said Tuesday that by the time they add up all the revenue from overseas pay-per-view buys, close circuit, sponsorship money and merchandise sales that the fight’s gross revenues would top US$500m.
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