Soccer line sport > Blog > World Sports > Floyd Mayweather ticked every box as Sky Sports went to town for boxing … – Daily Mail

Floyd Mayweather ticked every box as Sky Sports went to town for boxing … – Daily Mail

Floyd Mayweather beat Manny Pacquiao on points at the MGM Grand
The pay-per-view clash started just before 5am UK time
Mayweather produced a boxing masterclass to beat his great rival
Michael Jordan and Justin Bieber were among the celebrities present
CLICK HERE to relive the Mayweather vs Pacquiao fight!
READ Jeff Powell’s report on the Mayweather vs Pacquiao fight

Mark Webster for the Daily Mail

Published:
01:15 EST, 3 May 2015

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Updated:
03:27 EST, 3 May 2015

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The boxing world had been waiting a long time for these two men to announce they would be getting in a ring together.

And if you’ve subsequently been following the wallpapered build-up to Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao on Sky Sports, you could be forgiven for thinking that it has taken twice as long since they did.

But it should be of no surprise that the channel went to town on this Vegas showdown. Because this was one of those rare sports on the telly hat-trick nights.

Flod Mayweather celebrates his victory over Manny Pacquiao in the Fight of the Century

Mayweather now has a record of 48 fights unbeaten since turning professional

It was a boxing masterclass from Mayweather as he beat his great pound-for-pound rival

The belt Mayweather won for this glitzy and glamorous event is worth $1m

Viewers got their money’s worth as the fighters (pictured before the 12th round) went the distance

First, you’ve paid your license fee. Tick. Then you’ve subscribed to the station. Tick. And finally, you’ve coughed for the pay-per-view. Tick.

But what you got in return was one of those unique sporting occasions that seemed to capture the planet’s imagination. All you didn’t want, as the sun started to threaten to peak through your curtains as dawn approached on Sunday morning, was a first round knockout!

The coverage, in fact, began many hours earlier at the stroke of midnight when Adam Smith welcomed us all to what he called the ‘global happening’. And early in the coverage, it was plain to see from the live pictures that there were more people watching the action in your front room than the MGM Arena.

Frankly, all those people with the golden tickets knew what the night was all about. And had clearly decided that Vegas had other ways to keep them entertained until the main event.

For us back home, that meant some build-up fights, but also plenty of time to pick the through the bones of what was to come.

Early on Amir Khan had joined Adam with Johnny Nelson and Carl Froch to share his thoughts. Sporting a Muhammad Ali T shirt (a little jab at Mayweather’s comments in the week?), Amir thought that, at the weigh-in, ‘one thing I saw in (Mayweather’s) eyes, which I’ve not seen before, he was nervous’.

Basketball legend Michael Jordan was at the fight with his wife Yvette Prieto

Paris Hilton was in the celebrity-heavy crowd at the main event in Las Vegas

Although in a pre-recorded chat at the weigh-in with Froch shown just afterwards, you’d have to say Floyd looked anything but. To the point where he even managed to remain relaxed as Carl’s question evolved into a soliloquy, beginning with a protracted description of his own fight with George Groves at Wembley. A little piece of Nottingham owned The Strip for a moment there.

From there, for the next couple of hours, the toughest contest was probably taking place on the settees of Great Britain as everyone tried to stay awake for the big one. However, during the last bout on the undercard, Vegas started to help us in our quest to do it til dawn.

As Nick Halling pointed out on commentary during that fight, the burgeoning crowd were just ‘chatting and talking’ as the boxers were bobbing and weaving. ‘They’re all here for one reason,’ explained his evergreen sidekick Jim Watt. And of course that was the point. This was WAY beyond a regular night at the boxing.

If that wasn’t totally clear, then there were plenty of celebrities to capture on camera to make the point. From Michael Jordan and Evander Holyfield, to Paris Hilton and Justin Beiber, we saw the stars turn out to be part of the process add to the experience.

And well done to Sky’s Andy Scott, who even managed to doorstep a couple. Even if they were rather keen to get to their seats. Liev Schreiber was almost even pleading with Andy to let him go, saying: ‘I can’t wait to get in there. Please. Please.’

(From left) Carl Froch, Johnny Nelson and Adam Smith were talking us through events in Vegas

It took a while for the MGM Grand to fill up – undercards aren’t really the thing for celebrities

Although as were certainly feeling at home, there was in fact no rush for Liev and his fellow VIPs. As you probably would have expected, the stars of the show kept us waiting. Leaving Sky’s boys with a chasm to fill. This they did as best they could, getting into some serious detail about what was to come.

It also gave Froch, now sat ringside and looking somewhat Blair Witch Project in the lighting, a chance for a classic one liner. Clearly thrilled to be part of the occasion, he told us excitedly the arena ‘felt like the O2. Or maybe even the Nottingham Arena’. Once again, you can take the boy out of Blighty…Viva Notts Vegas!

Thankfully, a few minutes later, once Jamie Foxx had stepped into the ring to beat the American national anthem within an inch of its life , we were away.

Vegas started to put on its show – a piece of sporting theatre that as Halling pointed out, while we watched the boxers enter the arena and heard the crowd’s reaction, was now clearly ‘good guy versus bad guy’.

In the end – with the camera following him as he weaved through a traffic jam of a ring, and the words ‘and still undefeated’ sending him in celebration up on to the ropes – it was the bad guy who won it.

And in winning it, he did so across 12 full rounds of what Johnny Nelson called, as the crowd filed out, ‘masterclass boxing’.

So even if you were backing Manny, and not Superman, at least you got full value for your money. And a chance to say good morning to the paper boy as he delivered the Sunday papers. Tick.