Despite its billing as the mega-fight everyone had been waiting for, last Saturday's boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao was decidedly lacking in action. For 12 rounds Pretty Boy Floyd dodged, rolled, and hugged his way to a unanimous decision. Hungry for some conflict, the media latched onto an unfortunate quip from Dick Costolo, the CEO of Twitter.

Costolo would later clarify that he was talking about live streams from backstage that had taken place before and after the fight, giving users an intimate glimpse at the boxers out of the ring. HBO was the one using Periscope in that case. But most people assumed he was referring to the numerous illegal live streams of the match which popped up on Periscope, and its rival Meerkat, allowing anyone to catch the action while avoiding the $99 pay-per-view price tag.

The hot takes flew fast and furious from media and tech reporters. Hollywood and Twitter were at each others throats! Periscope and piracy had dealt a body blow to pay-per-view! Finally, a fight where some blood would get spilled, at least metaphorically. You got the sense from the press that more people saw the action on illegal smartphone streams than on cable TV. The reality, however, like the boxing match, doesn't live up to the hype.