By Kirk Jackson
There has been much commotion with Floyd Mayweather’s recent proclamation of not wanting to fight Manny Pacquiao. Yes it does appear Mayweather is playing the role of the grinch who stole Christmas this holiday season, crushing the hopes and dreams of most boxing fans who have eagerly awaited the clash between the two titans.
Many will say once again Mayweather is ducking Pacquiao. It’s a fair assessment. Negotiations between the two fighters disintegrated in the past over a variety of reasons. Whether it was over random drug testing, split of the purse or whatever other issue there was, the fight was never made.
Floyd is controversial and hypocritical; he says something one day, will say the opposite the next. But one thing he has been consistent and adamant about, is his stance on not doing business again with Top Rank Promoter Bob Arum.
And it makes sense. He’s a disgruntled former employee. According to Mayweather, Arum owes him money from his fights with Arturo Gatti and Zab Judah which took place more than seven years ago.
Many people within the realm of boxing are familiar with the cold war between Top Rank and Golden Boy promotions as well as the feud and rivalry between Showtime and HBO. Mayweather is represented by Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy along with the Showtime network and Pacquiao represented by Top Rank and HBO.
This grudge between promotional companies will prevent us from seeing some interesting match-ups in boxing, most notably Mayweather vs. Pacquiao. Or for this instance, Floyd will keep us from seeing this match-up.
The ship may have sailed for the dream match between the two as the fighters have traveled in opposite directions the past few years.
For example, we have Fighter A and Fighter B.
Since 2012, Fighter A has three fights and three victories via decision across two weight divisions. Fighter B has three fights, earning one victory and suffering two defeats.
Since 2008, Fighter B faced and defeated three opponents Fighter A had already defeated, while Fighter A faced and defeated two opponents Fighter B had previously defeated, and a case can be made that one of those opponents both Fighter A and Fighter B faced arguably beat Fighter B in their two previous encounters.
Fighter B is perceived as a risk taker and has a crowd pleasing style. Fighter A is known as an artful, evasive fighter, who recently set records with overall earned revenue and pay-per-view buys for the sport of boxing.
It appears Fighter A seems to be in a better position than Fighter B if we compare overall financial impact and recent win percentage dating back the past couple years. If you guessed Fighter A as Floyd Mayweather and Fighter B as Manny Pacquiao than you’re correct!
In spite of the unreal level of hatred and lack of respect for Floyd Mayweather despite his accomplishments, at the end of the day, he holds all of the leverage and Pacquiao hasn’t done anything to earn a fight with him.
Pacman went 0-2 in 2012 and his victory in 2013 was over a fighter in Brandon Rios, who is a tough fighter with tremendous heart but not necessarily a highly skilled fighter. It was his first fight at welterweight, he’s not a top 10 welterweight, he’s barely a top 10 junior welterweight.
Why Pacquiao was moved up to the No. 1 contender for Mayweather’s WBC welterweight championship is beyond me. Ranked ahead of Timothy Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez who beat Pacquiao by the way.
Bradley, Danny Garcia and Marcos Maidana are more deserving of a shot at Mayweather than Pacquiao is.
People can complain and cry about it, but realistically Pacquiao still has unfinished business with Bradley and Marquez. And as impressive as his performance against Rios was, beating a walking punching bag who is not a top tier fighter for the weight division doesn’t cut it. And until he leaves the Top Rank promotional company, we will probably never see that dream fight.
Since Manny Pacquiao’s ascension to super stardom, I find it difficult to find an elite fighter in their prime without the aid of a catch weight that he has defeated.
As much as I would personally love to see the fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao, there is certainly no mandate for Mayweather to fight him.