On May 2, the two most championed boxers since the turn of the century, Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. and Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao, squared off in probably the most overhyped and underperforming thing to happen to any great fighter since Rocky V.

The fight was set up to be great; the next “Fight of the Century” just as Joe Frazier vs. Muhammad Ali was back in 1971 or the “Finally” bout between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield in 1996. The tickets sold out in under a minute, the Pay-Per-View sales were through the roof. The fighters were expected to make $100million plus each for the night.Mayweather came into the fight with an undefeated 47 wins, zero loss record and Pacquiao, despite having a few losses, has proved time and time again that he was the best fighter to possibly put a one in Mayweather’s loss column. They both put up their title belts for this fight to happen as well with Money putting up his WBC and WBA championships, and Pac-Man waging his WBO belt.

All of that said, as of May 3, boxing is now forgotten to those newcomers who looked to this fight as their gateway to become a fan of the sport.

“It’s so sad, because this fight had the potential to bring boxing back…bring it back to life!” said YouTuber, gamer, and sports enthusiast Chris Smoove in the video, “The Fight of the Century! #TBE? Mayweather vs. Pacquiao,”. “Casual fans now think that boxing is a joke because of this fight,”. I think it was best put in that way. In a sense, this fight is to boxing as what the Super Bowl is for football, the Finals is for the NBA, or even what WrestleMania is for the WWE. It is a chance to showcase what your sport has to offer and this fight failed at that miserably.

People who have seen the fight know, and those who have not need to know, so they do not spend the hour and something being bored out of their minds;this was a pillow fight. There was no actual tension in that ring. They didn’t project the possibility of a knockout at any point. The times that were most exciting is when Pacquiao cornered Mayweather and started throwing punches at him, but quickly turned into said pillow fight when Mayweather hugged “Pac-Man” just so they were separated by the official. When that was not happening, the undefeated champ just danced around and played defense. The only time he threw punches is when he knew beyond a shadow of doubt that they would land. Many say that Pacquiao was injured during the fight, which may be the case on why he was so laid back and passive the entire 12 rounds they battled, but why would that matter now? They had their shot and now, with Mayweather retiring after his fight this upcoming September, there is most likely no redemption to be had. These two are the only ones right now that can draw in a general audience and they blew it.

After returning home from watching the fight at a family member’s, I told my father, “The undercard matches were more exciting than the main event,”, and as a professional fighting sport, that is the worst thing that can happen at an event. This could very well be the end of boxing as a popular sport and we might not get another fight with the star power such as this for a long time and who knows how many fans there will still be by the time it happens.