by David P. Greisman

For years, for longer than seemed necessary, for what felt like a lifetime, two questions were asked about Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao: Why had they not fought yet? And what would happen if they did?

Once the bell rang to open the first round, the first question and its many answers no longer mattered. Here were the two best welterweights in the world, two of the best fighters in boxing today, two of the best fighters of this generation, finally standing across from each other in the ring after five and a half years of anticipation.

For 12 rounds, they fought to settle the second question — though reality seemed to settle in long before the final bell sounded.

Floyd Mayweather stood alone.

From the beginning, he almost completely neutralized one of the greatest offensive fighters in the sport, a dynamo whose fleet feet and even faster fists had left so many opponents flailing futilely, made them cover up out of self preservation, and broke highly accomplished, tremendously brave, remarkably capable and phenomenally tough men down until they acquiesced, be it mentally, physically or both.

In the middle, Mayweather withstood the best of what little Pacquiao was actually able to land that night, covering up, recovering quickly, retaliating within the same round and then rebounding by the next.

At the end, the statistics showed a wide difference that had already been demonstrated within the ring. They were two of the best welterweights in the world, two of the best fighters of today, two of the best of this generation, and yet Mayweather was so much better than Pacquiao.

He had made Pacquiao look no different than many of the best of the 45 other opponents who had lost to Mayweather in 47 pro fights over nearly 20 years. Before the bout this past Saturday, CompuBox had looked back nearly a decade at statistics for Mayweather’s previous 13 fights, unofficial numbers of punches landed by Mayweather and on Mayweather. The company also tracked Pacquiao’s performances, analyzing 12 bouts dating back to the end of 2008.

Mayweather’s opponents only landed an average of 19 percent of what they threw, about one of every five punches. Of those, they were successful with 24 percent of their power shots, about one of every four.

Pacquiao typically landed about 35 percent of his offensive output, averaging 22.6 of 65.5 per round. He usually was highly accurate with punishing power, averaging 18.5 landed per round for every 39.4 thrown.

Not against Mayweather.

Pacquiao threw just 429 punches over the 12 rounds, an average of 36 per round, 12 per minute, one every five seconds, an otherwise manageable output instead of his often unstoppable onslaught. He landed just 81 shots on the night — he had once landed 64 punches on Antonio Margarito in a single round alone. That averaged out to less than seven punches per round on Mayweather, leather finding flesh only once every 27 seconds.

Mayweather often has pointed to his undefeated record as proof not only that he was better than all he’d faced, not only that he was the greatest of this era, but that he also was the best ever. It’s hard to argue the first and second points. Historians won’t conclude the third. But such arguments are a pointless pursuit. Taken on their own, the numbers in Floyd Mayweather’s career don’t lie.

Neither did the numbers read out loud at the end of the bout, announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr. pronouncing Mayweather the unanimous decision winner.

The looks on Pacquiao’s face at the end of the first round told a great truth as well.

Pacquiao smiled as he walked back to his corner after the opening minutes, a grin betraying recognition that he had barely touched Mayweather. There was just one jab out of 23 thrown, and there were only two power shots out of a mere six sent forth. Mayweather didn’t land much either. He was credited with going 8 of 36 on the round: 5 of 28 with jabs, 3 of 8 with power punches. He did more. He did better.

Mayweather parried Pacquiao’s shots or quickly bounded back a few feet. For all of Pacquiao’s vaunted hand speed, Mayweather has long been impressively quick himself and on a higher level than the rest, Neo among all the Agent Smiths in The Matrix. He saw the shots or he saw when they were about to come.

Pacquiao, once again the shorter man, had in interviews mentioned the taller opponents he’d beaten before. They often were come-forward fighters, like Margarito, who stood in front of Pacquiao and had no choice but to take punishment. Others, like boxer Chris Algieri, were nowhere near as quick, skilled or experienced as Mayweather.

Mayweather made Pacquiao want to lunge in with punches. Then Mayweather landed right hand counters that caught Pacquiao as he came forward and made him not want to lunge in. Even when Pacquiao closed the distance, Mayweather would close it even further, tying him up, forcing the referee to break them and making Pacquiao start over again.

Pacquiao has shown an ability to jump into higher gears that are harder to handle. He came out quickly in the second, sending out a few jabs, one at a time, before pairing a couple up and following with a southpaw left cross, trying to switch up his rhythm and looks and catch Mayweather off-guard. Mayweather was ready and pawed with his left hand, more a push than a check hook but an effective response that fended Pacquiao away.

Mayweather soon got trapped in a corner, landed a right hand, darted in one direction, then changed course once more to get away. Pacquiao pushed him back to the ropes, missing a few shots as Mayweather ducked, tied them up and brought the action toward the center of the ring. Mayweather continued to pump his jab, establishing distance, upsetting Pacquiao’s rhythm, and setting up for the occasions when the lead would instead be a hook or a cross.

He was making Pacquiao think. He was making Pacquiao react. He was making Pacquiao reset.

Years ago, Pacquiao was largely a one-handed fighter who tended to follow a pair of jabs with his left cross, pursuing with speed that caught his opponents as they pulled away and with power that caught them by surprise. As he developed more through his work with trainer Freddie Roach, and as he moved up in weight against heavier opponents, he began to incorporate more angles for his punches. His volume overwhelmed. His opponents rarely knew where it would come from or when it would stop.

But he also tended to become more reserved against defensive-minded boxers. He sought not to be as reckless, not wanting to expend as much energy on missed punches, recognizing that his opponents were wholly capable of catching him with counters.

That’s why the same fighter who had once downed Juan Manuel Marquez three times in the first round of their first fight soon learned that Marquez could tag back. Their four fights had tactical action and close competition. Pacquiao was knocked down in the third round of their final installment, yet he began to catch Marquez with combinations a little later, success that went to his head when he bounced forward directly into a perfectly timed counter right hand in the sixth. Pacquiao crashed down face-first, unconscious.

That was late 2012, and Pacquiao had regained his confidence with three wins since then, outpointing the stationary Brandon Rios in November 2013, avenging his controversial loss to Tim Bradley with a decision win in their April 2014 rematch, then dominating Algieri last November.

Now Pacquiao was in a precarious position. He couldn’t open up too much lest Mayweather hurt him with a counter. Nor could he be too tentative and allow Mayweather to control the flow of the fight. Mayweather’s combined attributes made him far more difficult than any of Pacquiao’s previous challenges. Mayweather would not be overwhelmed by Pacquiao’s presence alone.

No wonder that Roach asked Pacquiao after the second round for more footwork and combinations. Pacquiao was standing in front of Mayweather. Roach wanted more looks, more activity, more for Mayweather to have to deal with.

It wasn’t going to be that easy.

Pacquiao did have some success with combinations in the fourth round, often sending out flurries of three punches when Mayweather stopped moving, trying to get at least one or two to land while Mayweather bobbed and weaved.

Yet his best moment came as a counter over one of Mayweather’s own shots. About halfway through the round, Mayweather jabbed and Pacquiao responded with a left cross that Mayweather didn’t move back from quick enough. It hit flush and drove Mayweather to the ropes, where he covered up. Pacquiao opened up with a salvo, many caught on Mayweather’s gloves, a couple digging to the body and more than a few hitting his head. Mayweather took them, and Pacquiao backed off to regroup. The rest of the round also belonged to Pacquiao, though Mayweather did land a few clean rights of his own.

And then Mayweather won the fifth.

A similar thing happened after Pacquiao took the sixth round. Mayweather has long shown that he can take stock of what his opponent is doing and then respond promptly with a different approach, whether it’s the distance he keeps, the movement he employs, the punches he throws or the rhythm at which he throws them. Boxing isn’t merely second nature to Mayweather. Rather, it is instinctual.

So when Pacquiao was closing the distance and quickening the pace, Mayweather would widen the gap, concentrate on defense, slow the action and regain control. Pacquiao, meanwhile, would be forced to reset, unable to jump in and out or side to side while in pursuit. In the fifth, Mayweather went from landing right hands to dropping his gloves and putting his face forward, inviting Pacquiao to walk into a counter.

Pacquiao couldn’t overwhelm or overpower. Mayweather handled what Pacquiao landed, stifling the rest, limiting the opportunities. Statistically, Pacquiao’s best rounds were in the fourth and sixth, when he landed 12 and 13 power shots, respectively. Yet in the fifth and seventh, all he could hit Mayweather with were one and two.

Mayweather out-boxed Pacquiao. He out-threw him and out-landed him as well, going 148 of 435 on the night, including 67 of 267 with jabs and 81 of 168 with power shots. It was not quite as active as Mayweather normally is, and his jab was less accurate than normal, but Mayweather came close to matching his standard when it comes to power punches, hitting Pacquiao with nearly half of what he threw.

Despite the magnitude of this fight, it wasn’t the most entertaining event. The winning boxer only averaged 12 landed punches per round, including about seven power shots per round.

But it was suspenseful and masterful. Despite Roach’s post-fight proclamations, Mayweather didn’t run, though he also didn’t just stand there and exchange punches. Just as Pacquiao wasn’t going to rush headlong into counter shots, Mayweather need not remain in range when Pacquiao attacked.

“His moving around, it’s not easy to throw a lot of punches. But if he stay, I can throw a lot of punches,” Pacquiao said afterward.

That was the point.

Pacquiao also said afterward that he thought he had done enough to won the fight. Perhaps it was just the shock of having been made to look like so much less than what he normally is.

Mayweather’s trainer, his father, Floyd Sr., had exhorted Junior to do even more. Floyd Sr. likely spoke from the knowledge that even in Las Vegas, Mayweather’s adopted hometown, one judge had seen the September 2013 fight with Canelo Alvarez as a draw, while another judge had seen the first bout with Marcos Maidana, in May 2014, evenly as well. Mayweather Jr. had still rightly won majority decisions, but Senior didn’t want to leave any chance of a surprise on the scorecards.

Junior felt confident that he was winning, though, and largely remained at the same pace.

“Manny Pacquiao is a tough competitor. I had to take my time and watch him extremely close,” Mayweather said afterward. He later added: “I thought I was beating him easy. I had to at least give him three rounds out of the 12. He was applying pressure but wasn’t landing any punches.”

He was right. One judge had it at 118-110, or 10 rounds to two for Mayweather, while the other two judges had it 116-112, or eight rounds to four.

Pacquiao’s team blamed his performance on a lingering right shoulder injury that had flared up weeks ago during training and on not being allowed to take a painkiller shot hours before the bout. The fight hadn’t been canceled due to the huge paydays at stake and the hope that Pacquiao would be fine on fight night.

“Athletes always fight hurt,” said Pacquiao’s promoter, Bob Arum, afterward. “We felt that the work that was done on the shoulder during training would give him the opportunity to use the right hand. We were disappointed when in the third round the injury kicked up again.”

Mayweather responded that he had injuries of his own going into the bout.

“Both of my arms was injured. Both of my hands was injured,” he said. “But I will always find a way to win.”

It may be tempting to conclude that a healthier Pacquiao would have been able to throw more punches and could have given Mayweather more trouble. It’s also rational to believe that Mayweather very well would have adjusted to that, too, still dodging what Pacquiao threw and still catching Pacquiao with right hands.

It can be hard for a losing fighter, especially a great one, to accept that there is nothing he could’ve done different so as to win. Manny Pacquiao was a great fighter, even years after his prime. Floyd Mayweather isn’t at his peak anymore either, yet he still stands alone.

He is now 48-0 with 26 knockouts. He is the true world champion in two divisions right now (147 and 154) and has been the lineal champ in two others (130 and 135). He held a world title in a fifth, the 140-pound weight class. More than half his career has been spent in world title fights. He’s won all 25 of them. Nearly half of his opponents were titleholders at the time, were previously titleholders or would win titles later on. Mayweather is 23-0 against such competition.

He’s 38 years old now, has been atop his sport for nearly two decades, is coming off a win over a future Hall of Fame inductee and an all-time great in his own right, got paid nine figures for the victory and made it look easy.

There’s one fight left on his contract with Showtime. Mayweather expects to fight this September. Some have trouble believing that he won’t keep fighting on, given that he still fights at such a high level and still demands the biggest paychecks of any professional athlete.

They may be right. They may not be. Mayweather has retired or taken sabbaticals before, only to return. He has manipulated the market in ways to build even more desire for his appearances.

But he also sounds ready to go.

“I don't really think I'm going to miss the sport,” he said. “I don't really watch boxing. At one particular time, I loved the sport of boxing. I wanted to go to every fight. I wanted to be at every boxing event. But throughout the years, I just lost the love for the sport.”

That’s normal for people who have worked in the same profession for so long. A passion becomes a job. That’s even more the case for boxers, many of whom start when they are young. They have spent a significant majority of their lives training, making weight, and getting punched in the head and body.

Mayweather has also been contending with increased scrutiny regarding his history of domestic violence.

It came up before his fight with Miguel Cotto in 2012, when his jail sentence on the most recent criminal case was delayed so that the bout could go on. It came up before his rematch with Maidana last year, when an in-depth article on Deadspin chronicled Mayweather’s many cases in which he had assaulted women or had, at minimum, been accused of doing so. He was interviewed back then by CNN’s Rachel Nichols, who pressed him with tough questions and followed-up well when Mayweather issued non-truths and denials.

And when the most lucrative boxing event ever was about to happen, bringing massive media attention to a sport that tends to lack mainstream coverage, the questions continued. Here was the best fighter in the sport about to convince people to spend close to $100 for a pay-per-view, and anywhere from thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars for tickets in the arena. Here was someone who drew such interest despite having committed the kinds of acts which have led other athletes to face more severe punishment.

That can help sour a person on the sport he once loved. Mayweather has been adept at compartmentalizing his out-of-the-ring drama and succeeding between the ropes. He still reportedly canceled the remainder of his media appearances after the Nichols interview last year.

So there may just be that one Floyd Mayweather fight left. Other boxers remain far too long, no longer able to perform at the level that made them famous, not necessarily tarnishing their legacies so much as our memories of them. Mayweather wants no such conclusion; he’s long tried to control his own narrative.

He’s written his own story in 48 fights so far and likely will retire with a perfect record. He won’t leave with an unblemished reputation, however, and will have little sway when it comes to what others say.

The 10 Count

1. If Floyd Mayweather’s last fight truly is in September, then Amir Khan may very well be locked out of ever getting his shot.

Khan lost out on his opportunities last year when Mayweather opted to face Marcos Maidana following Maidana’s victory over Adrien Broner. Mayweather then fought Maidana in a rematch.

Khan lost out on his opportunity this past weekend when Mayweather picked the biggest money a boxer has ever earned by facing Manny Pacquiao.

And Khan may have to skip out on Mayweather this September if Mayweather sticks to his usual date aligned with Mexican Independence Day weekend, which this year would likely be a bout on Saturday, Sept. 12.

The issue is that Khan would be fasting for the Muslim holiday of Ramadan during the days from June 17 to July 17. There would still be nine weeks between the end of the holiday and the day of the weigh-in, but that might not be the amount of time Khan would prefer to recover from the fast and then prepare for the biggest fight and toughest challenge of his career.

If that turns out to be the case, then I would love for Khan to move toward facing welterweight titleholder Kell Brook in what could be a massive event in the United Kingdom.

2. I didn’t find Mayweather vs. Pacquiao to be boring, though I also wasn’t anticipating thrilling action. Rather, I saw the way the bout carried out as a suspenseful pairing, a great defensive fighter showing how he could defuse an offensive dynamo.

I wouldn’t be surprised if many who thought Mayweather-Pacquiao boring were mistakenly expecting excitement or merely wanted a Pacquiao victory. Some likely wanted the action to match the anticipation, for the wait to be worth it, for great fighters to do memorable things. But I can’t completely diminish those who were unhappy with what they saw.

Some people just want to be entertained, and that applies to any sport. They would rather watch a basketball or football game with momentum shifts and a fast pace than they would one with strong defenses slowing down the pace and shutting down the other team. That’s just the way it is.

What Mayweather did was brilliant, and what he did also was necessary; he wasn’t going to open himself up and take chances when Pacquiao was potentially dangerous and never seemed like he was about to be taken out or dominated. Meanwhile, it was Pacquiao who couldn’t adjust and who rarely got to Mayweather.

But that’s why watching the biggest boxing matches is a gamble. If you tune in for a boring Super Bowl, you’re merely out four hours of your time. If you tune in for a disappointing boxing pay-per-view, you’re also out anywhere from $60 to $100.

3. Sure, there are those who complained about how little entertainment they got from Mayweather-Pacquiao, particularly given the $90–100 they spent on the pay-per-view. But that kind of complaint only takes away from people spending big bucks on boxing matches in the future.

Mayweather vs. De La Hoya wasn’t going to save boxing way back when. Mayweather vs. Pacquiao couldn’t do it either—there is no need to save the sport. But what the broadcast could do was bring people back into the fold and perhaps entice them to watch boxing more often. This big fight could be the foot in the door.

The issue is that boxing’s usual problems are what make it more difficult for the casual fans to want to follow.

Imagine tuning into the pay-per-view on Saturday and watching both of the televised undercard bouts. Sure, Vasyl Lomachenko vs. Gamalier Rodriguez and Leo Santa Cruz vs. Jose Cayetano were somewhat enjoyable despite being the expected one-sided wins for Lomachenko and Santa Cruz.

Yet they tuned in to see one fight with a 126-pound star and another fight with a 126-pound star—and then learned that Lomachenko and Santa Cruz likely will never fight each other. That kind of situation can be frustrating for fans. They just want to see good fights. They don’t care for the excuses.

The bright side is that we may at least end up getting Lomachenko vs. Nicholas Walters and Santa Cruz vs. Abner Mares. It’s just a shame that after waiting five and a half years for two of the best to fight each other, we now return to the reality that the best from these separate stables will only fight each other if there’s hundreds of millions of dollars to be made.

4. Floyd Mayweather’s announcement that he would be relinquishing his world titles at welterweight and junior middleweight isn’t a big deal for Mayweather, though it will be for many of the other contenders who compete in those divisions.

Mayweather is already regarded as the true champion at 147 and 154. He doesn’t need those sanctioning body belts to maintain that status. And if he is soon to retire, perhaps after this September, then there’s no added value to having world titles for his farewell outing. Rather, those belts represent a loss of income, with Mayweather paying a percentage of his purses in sanctioning fees.

Giving up the belts opens up opportunities for fighters who could use them, who see them as bestowing a level of accomplishment and raising their stature. Mayweather, with the win over Pacquiao, now has three titles at 147 (WBC, WBA and WBO) to go along with his two at 154 (WBC and WBA). There are many who wanted to vie for those titles but were never going to get a shot at Mayweather.

At 154, those include fellow Al Haymon clients such as Jermell Charlo (ranked No. 2 by the WBC behind Canelo Alvarez) and Erislandy Lara (the WBA’s “regular” titleholder behind “super” champion Mayweather).

At 147, Haymon clients include Amir Khan (ranked No. 1 by the WBC and No. 2 by the WBA), Marcos Maidana (no. 3 by the WBC and WBA), Shawn Porter (No. 4 by the WBC and WBA, No. 8 by the WBO), Keith Thurman (the WBA “regular” champ behind “super” champion Mayweather) and Andre Berto (No. 2 by the WBA).

There are others farther down in the rankings in both divisions.

While we’ve seen movement within Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions for the sanctioning body belts not to be featured or mentioned, control of those titles still allows for Haymon to have sway over who his fighters face and provide leverage in negotiations.

It will be interesting to see where things go from here.

5. It also will be interesting to follow the lawsuit that Golden Boy Promotions is planning to file against Haymon regarding alleged antitrust violations and unfair competition practices.

Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated was the first to report on it. His article can be found at http://bit.ly/mannixhaymon

The Association of Boxing Commissions has sent a letter asking for an investigation into whether Haymon violated the Ali Act, particularly the ban on people acting as promoter and manager simultaneously to the same fighter. The WBO has voiced concerns as well.

My colleague Jake Donovan wrote of all this in an article at http://bit.ly/jakehaymon

The Ali Act exists for a reason, though it’s essentially been unenforced over the years, brought up largely when a boxer is seeking to part ways with his promoter.

What we have here is the push and pull of what Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions is seeking to accomplish and what Haymon’s competitors feel that it and Haymon represent.

PBC wants to grow the sport and is putting hundreds of millions into the effort, seeking of course to make money in the process. Other promoters and the sanctioning bodies worry that they are being pushed out, that they won’t be able to survive given Haymon’s control of and leverage in the marketplace. Those who’ve subsisted on license fees from TV networks now see Haymon conditioning these channels to only broadcast boxing if the airtime is purchased.

This won’t be resolved immediately.

6. Last week I chafed at the misleading storyline of Wladimir Klitschko approaching Joe Louis’ record for title defenses. This week, I’m annoyed with those who look at Floyd Mayweather’s record of 48-0 (26 KOs) and ask about him continuing on so that he can break Rocky Marciano’s record of 49-0.

Once again, there’s context that needs to be applied here.

Marciano was 49-0 with 43 KOs when he retired as the undisputed heavyweight champion. The latter part of that sentence is also why it was otherwise meaningless when Danish heavyweight Brian Nielsen was 49-0 and going for win No. 50 against Dicky Ryan in 1999, only to lose. It was far more meaningful when Larry Holmes was 48-0 and the heavyweight champion prior to his 1985 loss to Michael Spinks.

Mayweather’s ledger is highly impressive. He will be in the Hall of Fame and will be regarded as the best of this generation and one of the best ever. He was the lineal world champion at 130, 135, 147 and 154, while also a world titleholder at 140. It’s not just the number of wins that matter, but who they came against. He is 25-0 with 10 KOs in world title fights and is 23-0 with 7 KOs against guys who held world titles at the time, had previously held titles or would go on to hold them.

Yes, there are guys we wished he’d faced, but he’s otherwise put together a remarkable career. There’s no need to place it in the false context of Marciano’s record, especially when, well, Marciano’s record only applies to the heavyweight division.

After all, former 105-pound champion and 108-pound titleholder Ricardo Lopez retired at 51-0-1 with 38 KOs. Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. was 89-0-1 before he lost to Frankie Randall. Yory Boy Campas was 56-0 when he lost to Felix Trinidad. Willie Pep was 62-0 when he lost to Sammy Angott.

7. Boxers Behaving Goodly mini-roundup:

- Former three-division titleholder Abner Mares donated equipment and funding to a Southern California boxing program that “targets underprivileged and at-risk youth ranging in age from 8 to 17,” according to an article on the Premier Boxing Champions website.

“I don’t want these kids to get into trouble by growing up and getting other ideas,” Mares was quoted as saying. “I don't want them to do all of the things that are easy to do when you’re young and growing up in a bad environment. That’s what I’m trying to prevent.”

- Former heavyweight title challenger Gerry Cooney hosted an annual amateur boxing card this past Saturday that raised money for Youth Consultation Service, a New Jersey-based agency that provides assistance, including mental health and educational services, for in-need children.

8. Boxers Behaving Badly: Former lightweight contender Graham Earl has been sentenced in seven years in prison for his role in a cocaine distribution ring, according to British newspaper the Leighton Buzzard Observer. Earl “was one of five men who worked for prolific drugs dealer Christopher Collins,” the report said.

The 36-year-old turned pro in 1997 and won his first 22 fights before dropping a decision to future titleholder Ricky Burns in 2005. Two years later, Earl was part of a highly entertaining five-round loss to Michael Katsidis. Later in 2007, Earl was blown out in 72 seconds by Amir Khan, then lost in 69 seconds to Henry Castle in late 2008. He ended that three-fight losing streak with a points win in June 2009 over a 16-125-7 opponent named Karl Taylor, then stepped away from the ring.

Talk ultimately turned to a potential rematch with Katsidis, though some were worried about whether Earl should even be allowed to fight anymore. The rematch eventually happened in July 2014, with Katsidis taking a wide unanimous decision. Earl was then stopped in 10 rounds last August by the 9-4-1 Steve Martin, dropping his record to 26-6 with 12 KOs.

9. Speaking of PBC, the difference between promises and reality when it comes to drug testing is concerning. A quick timeline:

– Jan. 14, 2015, Ben Thompson of FightHype.com: “Each boxer who competes in a PBC [Premier Boxing Champions] series bout will be subjected to rigorous, Olympic-style random drug testing by the United States Anti-Doping Agency [USADA].”

Similar reports came from Lem Satterfield, then of RingTV.com and now a writer for PBC, as well as Jake Donovan of BoxingScene.com.

– April 21, 2015: It’s reported that junior welterweight John Molina Jr. had tested positive for a diuretic — a substance that makes people urinate more and can be used to drop pounds or to mask the use of other banned substances — after his March 7 decision loss to Adrien Broner on the NBC debut of Premier Boxing Champions.

The announcement is made by the Nevada commission, which conducted the test.

– April 27, 2015, Michael Woods of TheSweetScience.com reports that USADA never tested Molina prior to or after his bout with Broner. Someone with Haymon Boxing tell Woods that he or she must check in with its legal staff before responding to his inquiry.

This is troubling. What PBC was saying it would do with drug testing is more than most promoters do. But if the actions don’t back the words, then those prior proclamations were pointless.

We’ve said time and again that commission-run testing as is currently done is not enough. Boxers aren’t tested often enough or stringently enough, with commission testing dependent on the location of the fight and the budget available. Additional testing beyond that done by the commission can depend on the contractual agreement and often doesn’t begin until the bout is but a handful of weeks away.

Haymon’s vice president of operations had said that boxers would “be subject to random, Olympic-style drug testing.”

It’s hard to be 24/7/365 if boxers are not even tested once.

10. I’m fortunate that working as a boxing writer has allowed me to be ringside for big fights, great battles and major moments. If there is one downside, it’s that the job also means arriving for the first undercard bout and remaining at the arena long past midnight for the post-fight press conference and other interviews.

That can mean a lot of time in a venue and a lot of stadium food. And there have been some epically long cards, particularly on past Golden Boy shows when many of Al Haymon’s prospects were continuing their development. Haymon is no longer working with Golden Boy. And yet Golden Boy’s card this Saturday in Houston will be the longest. show. ever.

(Please pardon these #FirstWorldProblems)

The main event is Canelo Alvarez vs. James Kirkland. The televised undercard on HBO also includes a good fight between 140-pound prospect Frankie Gomez and tough out Humberto Soto. The broadcast begins at 9 p.m. Eastern Time and will also include the replay of Mayweather-Pacquiao.

The card itself, however, begins at 12:10 p.m. Eastern Time, 11:10 a.m. local time, and is scheduled to include 14 other preliminary bouts, for a total of 16 fights combined during the day. These fights include everything from prospects (Joseph Diaz Jr., Ryan Martin, others), former contenders (Joshua Clottey) and novelty curiosities (7-foot heavyweight Taishan Dong).

That’s a good 12 hours at the venue — Minute Maid Park, where the Houston Astros play — before the press conferences even begin. And it still won’t feel as long as baseball games feel. I’m guessing the stands during the earliest fights will resemble what Oriole Park at Camden Yards looked like during that one game last week that was closed to the public.

The card is so long that I might just be able to have breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert at the baseball stadium, then take runs on the warning track between bouts to burn off the calories.

“Fighting Words” appears every Monday on BoxingScene.com. Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide . Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com