by Kirk Jackson
It was no surprise Manny Pacquiao 57-5-2 (38 KO’s) emerged victorious over the Chris Algieri 20-1 (KO’s) in their bout this past weekend in Macau, China.
Pacquiao was a 7-1 favorite and he showed why, flooring Algieri a total of six times and winning a unanimous decision from all the judges.
The display was a combination of Pacquiao’s greatness and a mismatch of class between the two fighters. The differential in class was evident in the early stages of the bout, and even before the fight took place, anyone with boxing sense could tell you Algieri stood no chance.
Algieri’s best opponents leading up to the fight were Emmanuel Taylor and Ruslan Provodnikov. While Taylor and Provodnikov are far from being considered tomato cans as they are good fighters, they are not considered elite fighters by any stretch.
And while gifted with good mechanics and natural fighting ability, missing from Algieri’s repertoire is the experience and the punching power to keep Pacquiao mindful of his attack.
But the fight with Algieri served its purpose. Feed Pacquiao an opponent he can look impressive against, so that it adds more luster to the much awaited showdown with you know who.
After the fight, Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum, was asked about a possible match between Floyd Mayweather and his fighter.
“Everywhere we go they ask when is it going to happen? When are they going to fight?” said Arum. “I say enough is enough, just make the fight happen. Let’s get it done, lets get it done next fight for each fighter, sometime in the first six months of next year.”
Public’s perception is Floyd Mayweather is ducking Pacquiao. The media can persuade the public to think and feel a certain way.
Lobbyists such as HBO’s Jim Lampley, ESPN’s Skip Bayless among others, have led the charge in the “Floyd Mayweather is a coward,” campaign. They’ve had much success, and for that, Arum, ESPN and HBO should be commended.
An athlete’s transgressions outside the ring have often been taken into account when they are criticized for their performances inside the ring. But not every athlete is held to the same standard.
If Mayweather were to fight Chris Algieri or a Brandon Rios, he would get annihilated by the media. Even more so than he does already. Some people criticize him for fighting Marcos Maidana and Saul Alvarez, who happen to be good fighters and much bigger and stronger than Mayweather.
Floyd gets criticized, but Manny Pacquiao gets a pass.
But because of Mayweather’s persona, the criticism is strong. Because of that, there is an agenda against him to sway how he is perceived as a fighter.
It’s a similar situation with Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. By certain accounts, LeBron can do no wrong, but Kobe is another situation.
Many of the athletes, actors, entertainers, celebrities in general that we admire for their respective crafts have had some issues with their personal lives.
Mayweather gets the blame and gets criticized for the fight between he and Pacquiao not happening, while Pacquiao proves elusive to blame or any kind of criticism, which is unfortunate, because both Pacquiao and Mayweather are great fighters. Each possess common characteristics that make them great fighters, but they also have their differences that make them great and unique in their own way.
Both guys can actually take some share of the blame, but the main culprit appears to be Pacquiao’s handlers, more specifically, Bob Arum.
Remember a certain someone who did not want to fight because of a fear of needles and random drug testing?
The same person who refused a $40 million dollar purse, only to ask for the same offer again after suffering a KO defeat.
Were those refusals and excuses the actual thought process of that fighter, or was he being advised by his promoter?
The same promoter who told him to drop VisionQwest Resources Group, a company that was hired by Pacquiao to help sort out tax issues and money that was missing from the fighter.
Do you remember a certain promoter saying his fighter can’t fight by the proposed date in May, because they’re waiting on a cut from a fight that took place in November to heal and they’re waiting on this mythical stadium specifically being constructed for the fight and it won’t be completed until after May?
Coincidentally, the completion of the stadium and healing of the cut is taking place during the same time period Mayweather would be serving jail time and that supposed stadium was never built.
But there isn’t a big fuss made about that. Instead there are Foot Locker commercials poking fun at Mayweather’s supposed reluctance to face Pacquiao.
The fight with Pacquiao and Mayweather has been in the works for some time now. Dating back to last year, it has been predicted by a few writers that the fight will finally take place in May 2015.
Mayweather has even hinted at the fight taking place with a few of his posts on Instagram.
Money is the main reason why the fight has been delayed so long.
Mayweather did not want to break bread with Arum because he feels he was slighted of his funds in the past when he was promoted by Arum and Top Rank Promotions.
Arum wants to keep the money made off of Pacquiao in-house. That’s why he is always matched up against Top Rank fighters. Antonio Margarito, Joshua Clottey, Brandon Rios, Timothy Bradley, potentially Jessie Vargas (lets hope not) etc.
Both Pacquiao and Mayweather are heading towards the final laps of their careers and the plan is to make the fight happen before they retire. And it will happen in May, as Arum eluded to.
Because Pacquiao has a contract with the Venetian Resort in Macau, China, where he has to fight every November and we know Mayweather is not going to leave Las Vegas and fight on foreign territory.
A move to the junior welterweight division (140) may be imminent for Pacquiao according to his trainer Freddie Roach, as he was interviewed by The Ring leading up to the fight with Algieri.
“There’s a lot of competition in the 140-pound division,” said Roach.
But do not expect the move to the lower weights to take place until Pacquiao has the much anticipated showdown with Mayweather in May.