Statistics proves Mayweather was fortunate to beat Pacquiao by unanimous decision

The more pay-per-view returns come in from around the US – currently well over four million US buys at $99.95 a pop – the greater the certainty that we have just witnessed the marketing miracle of The Half-Billion Dollar Fight.

The more intently the tapes of the fight are scrutinised the greater the head-scratching about the unanimous decision in favour of Mayweather.

One dedicated website in America, Boxing News 24, sat its leading commentators down to monitor the video, first at actual speed, then in slow motion, finally frame by frame.

The task was prompted initially by astonishment at the official fight statistics, which among other anomalies proclaimed that Pacquiao had connected with less than 20 per cent of his total punches and only nine per cent of his jabs.

So they decided to tally every blow and in so doing came up with startling numbers which multiply long-standing doubts about the validity of the punch stats, as well as concerns about the verdict itself.

Only by bending over backwards to give Mayweather the benefit of one statistically equal round, by virtue of his higher work rate in those three minutes, and another in which he landed one less punch but would have got the hometown nod could he have achieved even so much as a draw.

Mark that second round 10-10 and the ninth 9-10 and Pacquiao would be their clear winner.

For what it’s worth, I caused something of a stir by scoring the fight a 115-115 draw from my privileged vantage point at ringside.

These were the final tallies of the three official judges, all in favour of Mayweather: Glenn Feldman 116-112. Burt Clements 116-112. Dave Moretti 118-110

These are the website tallies, calibrated round-by-round according to punches thrown, punches landed, the score for each round, with Mayweather’s stats first:

(dailymail.co.uk)