I headed to a viewing party with friends where they’d paid for the pay-per-view rights, and we all stood around with drinks in hand ready to watch history. We held our bated breaths, perched forward on our seats with eyes unblinking, and listened to the unmistakable voices of announcers Jim Lampley and Al Bernstein.

What came next was about as thrilling as watching grey paint dry on the side of a house.

As the two sporting icons squared off inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, we got treated to a dozen rounds of some of the most boring boxing ever. Credit to the man who won, Mayweather did what Mayweather does best and defended brilliantly throughout 12 rounds of boxing as Pacquiao tried everything to break Pretty Boy’s guard. Sound, technical boxing, but oh, man, was it dull to watch.

I can remember Lampley and Bernstein actually apologising three quarters of the way through the match, telling fans this was not a show or spectacle, but rather one boxer showcasing his talent when it comes to blocking punches and counterpunching.

Now as the two start negotiations to enter the ring together and receive dump trucks of cash in the process, I cannot help but want to ask: why are we having this fight?

I’m all for a great rubber game or rematch, but the fact that the combined age of these two fighters is almost 83 has me wondering what type of boxing we could possibly expect? Mayweather is clearly in the stage of his career where sucking out residual income from his fame to add to his fortune is his forte. He retired undefeated and has way more to lose when it comes to this potential tilt.

It does not take a boxing specialist to know how this will play out. Mayweather will have his guard up the whole fight while Pacquiao tries to either score some substantial punches, finally catch Mayweather’s chin or win a gruelling battle on points that will most likely come down to a split decision and eventual third fight down the road.

Where’s my pillow, this sounds like a snoozefest.

I decided to go back and watch their 2015 fight again and found myself fighting boredom just to make it through. I’ll be honest, I ended up skipping some of the middle rounds as Pacquio’s flurries did little to Mayweather’s high guard.

The final 20 seconds or so were a complete debacle, Mayweather dancing around the ring, smile on his face like he just pulled off the greatest boxing con of all-time – which he did. He won, got paid, and pissed everyone off in the process. “Money”, as he is affectionately known, duped us all into making enough cash to fill a swimming pool.

There is no chance Pacquiao has either gotten faster or learned to punch harder, and the chances Mayweather has lost any substantial amount of speed or agility that him such a tough target and overall opponent are pretty small. This would basically be like watching them fight back in 2015 if they both ran a half marathon before. Tired, lethargic, ageing fighters milking past glory as Pacquiao tries to do the one thing no boxer has ever done, and catch the sneaky Michigan native with his gloves down.

There are most definitely fights I would love to see, but they are now pretty much all UFC fights. Jon Jones and Brock Lesnar for obvious reasons. Conor McGregor and Georges St-Pierre would be another one I would check my schedule for. But watching Mayweather get paid millions of dollars to avoid Pacquiao’s flurries for 12 rounds? Count me out.

There are fights fans want to see, and fights boxers want to make happen. This is clearly a case of the latter. Pacquiao wants nothing more than to put the cherry on top of an illustrious boxing legacy by snagging a win against the most elusive target, the rarest of birds: Mayweather and his goose egg in the loss department.

Mayweather, well, he wants to get paid, and he knows he can needle Pacquiao for months, hype the fight for weeks in press conferences, then go full guard for a matter of minutes and walk away with more money than the GDP of a small country.

I’ll take a pass on this long con, thank you very much.