Pacquiao: I thought I won the fight

By: Celest Flores-Colina - 10 years ago

Manny Pacquiao thanks his supporters after his fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. Mayweather won by unanimous decision. PHOTO BY REM ZAMORA/INQUIRER/See more at FRAME

Manny Pacquiao is convinced Floyd Mayweather Jr. should’ve gone home with a blemished record.

After Mayweather got the nod of all three judges for the victory on Sunday (Manila Time) in boxing’s richest fight, Pacquiao said that he thought he won their welterweight unification bout.

READ: Mayweather preserves perfect record, overcomes Pacquiao

“It was a good fight. I thought I won the fight,” Pacquiao said before a displeased crowd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

The Filipino boxing champion also said that Mayweather didn’t do anything but “move around” in all 12 rounds of their megabuck bout while he was able to tag Mayweather “with solid punches.”

“It’s not easy to throw a lot of punches if he kept on moving around,” Pacquiao said. “If he stayed, I can throw a lot of punches.”

Mayweather did spend most of the night trying to avoid Pacquiao’s lethal flurries—ducking, skipping, backpedaling—but that doesn’t mean he didn’t connect on vicious punches.

READ: ‘I take my hat off to Manny’ says Mayweather

Compubox stats released shortly after the fight actually showed that the Michigan-born boxer threw and connected better than Pacquiao did.

And that’s saying a lot considering that in most of Pacquiao’s previous setbacks, he still threw more punches than the victor.

READ: Mayweather threw more punches than Pacquiao–Compubox stats

When pressed whether Mayweather’s significant size and height advantage caught up with him, Pacquiao was quick to thumb the thought down.

“No, it’s not the size. Size doesn’t matter. I’ve been fighting bigger opponents than him,” the Pacman said.

He also stressed that Mayweather was actually not the most powerful opponent he’s faced in career.

“I can handle his power. He’s not as strong like Antonio [Margarito] and Miguel [Cotto],” Pacquiao said.