Efficiency is key
We’ll say it again: there may be a place in this world for these celebrity fights but it’s a stretch to call it boxing. The crowd at last night’s bout between Floyd Mayweather and Logan Paul seemed to think so too, as the final bell was met with deafening boos from the crowd at what can only be described as precious moments of their lives they’ll never get back.
Despite it being announced that no winner would be declared (make it make sense, please), fans had to find some way to make things seem important/remotely interesting and, as such, a kind few did the maths for us. If you look at the stats, it’s pretty clear who the winner was. Would you like to have a guess? It’s a toughy!…
Mayweather. It was Mayweather who won.
Yes, that’s right, the boxer of the two ‘contestants’ win the boxing match – consider us stunned. Floyd may have come out of retirement for a quick cash-grab (the only we can rationalise even entertaining such a farce) but he still showed how his efficient and economic approach has seen him win all 50 of his fights. And no, this one doesn’t count, remember.
Mayweather landed seven of his 14 jabs on Paul (50%) and 36 of his 93 power shots (39%), meaning that he landed a combined 43 out of his total 107 shots, which comes in at approximately 40% of all strikes. For those of your uninitiated in most boxing matches, fighters tend to miss more than they land, so to have almost half of your punch connect is pretty good going.
From the most recent data we could find (2020), Mayweather has landed around 43% of all his punches in the last ten years: a rate that equates to almost $500k per hit. Madness. We’re sure that ratio will have fluctuated somewhat earlier in his career but if the 44-year-old is known for one thing it’s consistency.
Floyd Mayweather’s Decade:
10 Fights, 10-0, 2 KO’s
1,833 Punches Landed
4,270 Punches Thrown
43% Overall Connect Pct.
$499,181.67 per landed punch— Dan Canobbio (@DanCanobbio) December 31, 2019
In contrast, former Vine star, YouTuber and social media influencer, unsurprisingly, didn’t land as many punches. His strike rate averaged around at around 13%, landing just 28 of his 217 attempts (seven jabs and 21 power punches).
He threw almost five times as many jabs than his opponent but landed just 10% of them, with a larger proportion of hooks and straights (144 to Floyd’s 93) no doubt exhausting him quicker. Conversely, ‘Money’ did what he always did and just pulled him all over the ring, using his footwork and fluid movement to dictate the flow of the fight and pull the trigger at precise opportunities.
So that’s that: the boxer won the boxing match. Big whoop. I mean, you only have to watch it back to see that Mayweather clearly knocked Paul out and for some reason (money) decided to keep him from falling so the two could go the distance.
There was nothing surprising here other than, perhaps, the fact that people are still willing to pay for this shite. Logan’s brother Jake is up next against Tyron Woodley – Mayweather has even offered to train him.
Here’s hoping we’re in for a better fight or that it gets cancelled and this whole celebrity boxing thing dies on its arse.
