Summary: 1. Floyd Mayweather decisions Manny Pacquiao in best-selling PPV ever<br>At the end of the previous decade, the two welterweights were regarded as the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, and they first seriously discussed fighting in 2009.<br><br>They didn’t meet, though, until May 2, 2015, finally putting an end to the annoying question, “Do you think Floyd and Manny will ever fight?” That question caused boxing journalists to have nightmares.<br><br>The bout became known as “The Money Fight,” because Mayweather made more than $200 million and Pacquiao earned in excess of $100 million. Mayweather won a clear unanimous decision in a fight that wasn’t nearly as good as it could have been several years earlier.<br><br>It sold 4.6 million on pay-per-view and generated a $72.2 million gate.<br><br>2. HBO exits boxing after 45 years<br>After being the lifeblood of boxing since the early 1980s, HBO called it quits in 2018 and gave up on boxing broadcasting. Its first boxing broadcast, in 1973, was a heavyweight title fight between Joe Frazier and George Foreman.<br><br>It televised bouts involving most of the greatest stars of the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. But it was losing the battle for the top fights near the end and wasn’t getting the interest from its subscribers it once did.<br><br>3. Floyd Mayweather signs with Showtime in 2013<br>Mayweather rocked the sport in 2013 and probably hastened HBO’s departure when he left the network after 15 years and signed a deal with rival Showtime.<br><br>With Showtime, Mayweather broke the pay-per-view sales record twice and exceeded two million sales in a bout three times.<br><br>4. Legendary heavyweights Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier die<br>The rivalry between Ali and Frazier defined a generation. They were two of the greatest heavyweights who ever lived, and among the most popular. Their March 8, 1971, bout is still regarded by many boxing historians as the most significant bout int eh sport’s history.<br><br>They fought three times, with Frazier winning the first when both were undefeated and had a claim to the heavyweight title. Ali won the last two, including the memorable ‘Thrilla in Manila’ in 1975.<br><br>Frazier died of liver cancer on Nov. 7, 2011, at 67. Ali died on June 3, 2016, of septic shock at 74.<br><br>5. Boxing returns to network TV<br>Boxing was a staple on network television in the 1950s and 1960s, but scandal, the development of cable and the emergence of other sports pushed it off the networks in large part.<br><br>But since 2015, there has been regular coverage of boxing on free, over-the-air television in the U.S., a significant accomplishment in helping to drive interest in the sport. It first came to NBC and is now with Fox, though there were also fights on CBS this decade.<br><br>6. Al Haymon creates the Premier Boxing Champions<br>Al Haymon was known as one of the top boxing managers when in 2015, he created the PBC. It used many of the elite fighters that Haymon had signed and created a major entity putting on shows.<br><br>Haymon also opened his wallet and paid larger than customary purses, helping improve boxers’ financial situation.<br><br>7. Boxing goes digital<br>In 2018, streaming came to boxing, with DAZN and ESPN+ becoming part of the sport’s lexicon. DAZN had an outlandish budget and signed Canelo Alvarez to a record $365 million contract, one of the richest ever given to a pro athlete.<br><br>It meant that the biggest star in the sport would no longer compete on either network or cable television.<br><br>DAZN faced competition in the streaming space from ESPN, which went all in with stream as per the company’s management at Disney. ESPN+ debuted and became a must-have destination for fight fans in short order.<br><br>8. Floyd Mayweather fights Conor McGregor in boxer vs. MMA fighter bout<br>This might have been the first fight made via social...
