The fight the world had waited for has now happened, and not all the fans feel it was worth the wait. With rumors of 5 million PPV buys floating around the internet, many wonder if that will be enough to call for a rematch. I recently had a chance to speak to Hall of Fame boxing announcer, Al Bernstein, to discuss the events from this weekend’s super fight, and Al breaks down what he thought of Mayweather vs. Pacquiao. Bernstein also talks about the impact the fight had for the sport, and if we could see a rematch. Additionally, Al talks about what’s next for both Mayweather and Pacquiao. Here is what Al Bernstein had to say.
Robert Brown: Al, what were your thoughts on the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight?
Al Bernstein: Well, there’s so many dynamics to it now after it’s ended. What we saw in the actual match was Floyd Mayweather being Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao not quite able to mount the volume punching attack that he said he said he wanted to do, and use the strategy of attacking at angles and using that volume to smoother Mayweather’s counter punching.
Now we find out that maybe one of the reasons was that Pacquiao had an injured shoulder going into this fight — which raises all kinds of other questions — but either way, taken at face value, Floyd Mayweather again won based on his defensive skills and boxing skills.
Robert Brown: In the end of it, was this fight still good for boxing or has the aftermath done too much damage?
Al Bernstein: It was a lost opportunity for boxing. Boxing has had a mini renaissance in the last year or two. In the US, it’s been put on over the air networks. This fight was something that could have propelled the sport further and not only was the fight unsatisfying to some people — although it wasn’t a terrible fight, it was a great fight, but because of the aftermath, everything got tainted because of these claims of an injury and Manny Pacquiao not being one hundred percent.
It became a real lost opportunity and all the press after is negative, instead of being positive. That’s not a great thing for the sport but boxing is never going away and this year there are great match-ups being made, so hopefully that can somewhat counteract this.
Robert Brown: Do you feel that we have to have a rematch to clear all this up?
Al Bernstein: I hope we don’t. Honestly, that would feel cynical to me. I don’t know if they will. This fight’s going to do almost 5 million in buys, which shatters every record. Some would say, “Well of course the rematch wouldn’t because of all this,” but they’re probably thinking, “If we can sneak in 2 million for the rematch by selling a repackaged ‘Manny Pacquiao was hurt’…etc.” Me personally, I’d like to see everybody move on.
Manny Pacquiao a year from now will have been off a year, Mayweather is going to be 39 years old. Mayweather has one more fight on his Showtime agreement and he claims that’s his last fight, but I don’t know. He could be lured back, there’s a new arena being built in Las Vegas that he’s anxious to open. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Mayweather have another fight.
Robert Brown: Despite the shoulder injury, do you think we got the result out of this fight that Mayweather is clearly the better fighter?
Al Bernstein: Mayweather won, and some might say, “Hey, it was 8-4 on two of the scorecards and it was a one armed Pacquiao. Don’t you think he’d be able to figure out how to win two more rounds?” Maybe he would but Mayweather went in the favorite and the burden was on Pacquiao to do more.
At this juncture, Mayweather looks like the better fighter but they fought in the old days three or four fights constantly. There’s nothing inherently wrong with Pacquiao-Mayweather fighting again, there’s nothing awful about that, but I think if there’s not another option and people are interested, fine, fight.
Robert Brown: What is next for Mayweather now? Do you think he will fight Amir Khan next?
Al Bernstein: Amir Khan normally wouldn’t fight in September because of Ramadan, but he’s suggesting that he might do that if they pick him. I don’t know, I’ve always thought that Amir Khan presented a bigger threat to Mayweather than a lot of other fighters, and the reason is that he’s got height, length, reach, he knows how to box. His big issue is his chin, but Mayweather doesn’t really test your chin that much, so I think Khan is an interesting fight for Mayweather.
Robert Brown: Mayweather is ridiculously good at nullifying offensive fighters but Khan’s punch volume is ridiculously high and it’s very hard to win rounds off him.
Al Bernstein: Yeah and Khan can fight from range. You need to fight from range with Mayweather. For instance, Tommy Hearns could never lose to Mayweather, he could never lose. They could fight ten times and I think Tommy Hearns would win all ten, because he could fight from range and Mayweather would not hurt him — Hearns was hurt by big punchers but Mayweather isn’t one. Khan can fight from range and that would make him a little difficult for Mayweather. I actually think Mayweather understands that.
Robert Brown: What do you think is next for Manny? There’s talk of him moving down to 140lbs.
Al Bernstein: I think his best weight is 140lbs. The interesting thing is, he just made $120 million and yet he had tax issues on both The Philippines and the United States — which in my opinion might be one of the reasons why he didn’t report the injury, I think they may have been concerned about the fight being postponed, but I don’t know.
I think we may still see Manny in the ring again, and I think 140lbs is a good weight for him. A fight with Lucas Matthysse would be terrific, that’s a tough fight. Terence Crawford is also a tough fight which could be semi lucrative.
No rematch please!!! If there will be a rematch, same thing will happen all over again. Floyd’s gonna plant spies again in Pacquiao’s camp in the form of “sparring partners” who will again report Oacquiao’s daily activities in camp, how he looks, what his strengths and weaknesses are, his ring habits and moves and most importantly, to target his old shoulder injury to re-injure him again so that Pacquiao’s offense will again be limited on fight night. Floyd can again roid to the max without worries of getting caught cuz the truth is, he was not actually being tested and is getting a pass guaranteed by USADA’s Tygart who happens to be a friend of Al Haymon. Wow! Floyd won, but he won in a “very dirty” way even before the actual fight began. There is nothing impressive about his win, he was roided up and still ran for his life to steal rounds. Still, congratulations Floyd! God made you win because you humbled down throughout the course of the promotions. On the other hand, the overconfident Manny and his arrogant team were the ones humbled down by God. Retire Manny, push no more. And be TRULY HUMBLE.
I like your comments Mr. Posh. I idolized Manny for being humble during those many years when he was wearing a Holy Rosary Beads but when he became born-again Christian which he claims gave him blessings from nothing to something is inconsistent. In fact he was very much blessed when he was still with original Faith, praying at the ring corner and made sign of the cross before going to the center of the ring. Now, he does’nt and no more rosary bead in his neck.. but one thing I really dislike his statements was,,,viz: before he became a born again christian , he had lot of vices; that he did not know God.. which is inconsistent.. it is because he won big fights and that was the time he became popular one ot its was against Dela Hoya,,, he prayed at the ring corner..to whom he had praying then? to God..
Recently in this fight agains Floyd in an interview he stated in a joke as he answered the interview, i.e:
Why did you agree on all demands one of which is 60/40 split? He answered in a joke …when a convict is sentence to death,, he should be granted all he wants before entering the death chamber…How could he judge such a person .. judging a person is a sin . unGodly..
At fight night, he smile,,pointing to his Tshirt spiritual message.. that God’s Power is in him..
it happened otherwise..
His shoulder injury happened during the training but why he did’t reveal it beforehand to Boxing Nevada Commission.. Is it because of his Faith in God who will give him Power? He knew his fans are betting in his favor, one is Mark the actor who bet $250,000.00 which Manny knew..
So, , Manny knowingly deceived his fans…despite of his Faith in his newly found religion.
Rematch is not feasible anymore…nobody believe even how honest he will be.. one is enough..
Yes, why not as long as it’s outside US with 3 non Partisan judges. Otherwise a rematch is not significant.
All of Froid’s antics during press conference and weigh-ins were so fake and everything showed up after the fight, arrogancy at the highest level!! Don’t be a dumb believing “humble effect” Froid will never be and forever be protected in Vegas by both the Ref and the three blind judges. He’ll get away with everything wrong he’s done because of the power of ‘money’. No wonder he’s not going to fight outside of the Sin City where he can control everything. Where is the so called even playing field when only the pacman getting tested 13 times by this rotten USADA, which by the way is also a part of TMT. I just hope if there is a rematch, Manny just ktfo this over rated mthrfuckr. Pacman the real p4p with the biggest heart of a real champion, fought with mostly one arm and all Froid could do was clinched and hugged him to the max!!! Manny Pacman Pacquiao the GOAT.
Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao proabaly wouldn’t be on Showtime so I can understand why Al Bernstein is stating he don’t wanna see a rematch of the “Fight Of The Century”
If damage on the face will be the bases for judging, Manny won the fight and
gave opponent fear and forced running away…
Manny & Roach did NOT solve Floyd’s RUNNING & BEAR-HUGGING tactics.
And they didn’t solve ref. Kenny BrainLess’ history of allowing excessive clinching by ScumWeather Jr.
No rematch unless stipulated in the contract : For MAYWEATHER: no dancing, no running and no hugging just toe to toe fight. This will be an exciting fight and definitely not a boring fight. Do you agree?
And Manny made Floyd drop from his usual 43% connecting rate to only 34%. Floyd missed a lot of shots!!!!!!!!!.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SAVANT BOXING GENIUS CONNECTING % RATE???? Why the sudden drop in % rate???.Pacman was in front of Floyd all night long to be hit and yet Floyd missed 64% of his shots.
Not impressed by boxing’s savant defensive wizard!!!!
Manny should fight Canelo or Garcia to prove that he has still something left to show to his fans , I am sure Manny has still something to prove and rematch Floyd if Manny wins against whoever of the two.The only thing why the judges need to screw the scorecard if they didn’t do this on purpose.We know that Manny cant win on decision whatsoever, and we know Floyd will use all the space in the ring just to win by decision and Floyd tried to face with Manny when he knew Manny was really hurt.I think if the rematch will go through, this fight has no more title, maybe the title is the UNFINISHED BUSINESS..Floyd will not rematch Manny unless he sees Manny can still defeat this guys.
to everyone who blames manny for this boring fight of a century is dont know shit of boxing! Manny’s opponent is not a boxer he’s like a little bitch running from rapist, you can’t beat a man who’s only know was running and hugging, even manny fought one arm he can knock the fuck out if he fought manny toe to toe. Manny did enough to win but floyd was so scared to death. And i wish referee mills lane could be the third man in the ring on that fight sure he disqualified floyd for excessive hugging ang running. Bayless do nothing on that fight.
Look at.. how things go easy for maywaether.. they are now blaming pacman for the result of uneventful fight.. regardless of the injury pacman came to fight.. he is chasing maywaether.. pacman didnt throw enough punches. because Mayweather keeps on clinching and running…I dont really know how this people in boxing now put a blame on pacman.. you can appreciate instead for pacman for his braveness to take the fight..You cant fool people around.. i dont its just to put a blame on the one who want to fights than those fighter who want to cheat, clinch and run
yes mayweather fans are all blind. Floyd style doesn’t belong in boxing, boxing is gladiator fight like hagler and hearns does, what we saw last tres de mayo is manny pacquiao vs charlie chaplin who always hide to the referee lol!
Al Bernstein got my respect of a very honest non biased comments… A true commentator of boxing..like Larry Merchant …Max Kellerman…maybe you can learn from them…ask a question and listen to the answere ..Your searching for submission in your view is not relevant..
thank you Al for an honest comment… Your an example of our American way…