The Fight of the Century

Pacquiao–Mayweather is back on the table, so with the rematch now announced for Los Angeles, it’s the perfect excuse to rewind to the first time they finally touched gloves - because that night was boxing’s biggest “you had to be there” event, the kind that turned living rooms, bars, group chats, and whole countries into one shared watch party.

The wait that became the story

By the time they met on May 2, 2015, the bout had already lived a full life as a rumor, a negotiation, a feud, and a meme. The fight had been predicted for years, then stalled out over everything that always stalls boxing out: money splits, drug testing, networks, egos, timelines, and public posturing. In a strange way, the delays built mythology around it, and when it finally got signed, the feeling was “boxing’s longest-running argument is about to get an answer.”

The fight night

The venue was the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, and the stakes were clean and simple: supremacy at welterweight with the WBA (Unified), WBC, WBO, and Ring welterweight titles on the line. The money matched the moment - reported purses of $180 million for Mayweather and $120 million for Pacquiao.

Just as important: the broadcast became an event in itself. HBO and Showtime, usually competitors, produced a joint pay-per-view - a rare “all hands on deck” move that told you this wasn’t business as usual. In the Philippines, the fight was treated like a national occasion, with a broad simulcast setup allowing a mass viewing experience.

What happened in the ring

The fight itself played out like a high-level chess match, not a street fight. Pacquiao had his bursts, especially when he could close distance and force exchanges, but Mayweather did what Mayweather has always done at the highest level: managed space, picked moments, and made the other guy work harder than he wanted to for every clean look.

After 12 rounds, Mayweather won by unanimous decision: 118–110, 116–112, 116–112. That scoreline became its own controversy, because plenty of people felt the fight was more competitive than at least one card suggested. But the result didn’t change - Mayweather stayed unbeaten, and the biggest question in boxing finally had an official answer.

The biggest event ever - even for people who didn’t love the fight

Here’s the funny part: you can argue all day about whether the action lived up to the hype, because many called it underwhelming, and it still doesn’t touch the fact that the event was historic. The pay-per-view set records, the revenue rewrote boxing’s ceiling, and the night became a cultural timestamp: everybody remembers where they watched it, who they watched it with, and what they yelled at the screen.

The aftermath: a legacy that wouldn’t die

The debate didn’t end with the final bell. Pacquiao’s camp revealed he had a shoulder injury situation that became part of the post-fight narrative, with arguments about how much it affected him and why it wasn’t fully disclosed beforehand. On Mayweather’s side, the IV rehydration news added another layer of controversy and mistrust, because in fights this big, even small procedural details become gasoline for fan wars.

But that’s also why MayPac 2015 never faded: it wasn’t just skill vs. skill. It was hype vs. reality, business vs. purity, boxing’s best and boxing’s mess all in one package.

Now that the rematch is officially on the way, the first meeting matters more than ever. Because whether you loved the fight, hated the fight, or just loved the moment, the original Mayweather–Pacquiao wasn’t only the “Fight of the Century.”

It was the night boxing felt like the center of the sports world.

Image Credit: ESPN