The Real Reason Manny Pacquiao Wants to Fight Floyd Mayweather

by Kirk Jackson

Money.

Manny “Money” Pacquiao recently informed the media that he will take the lesser split of 45-55 and would be willing to undergo all of the random drug testing all the way up to the fight.

The common fan or spectator may think, “Pacquiao is really trying to make the fight happen,” which is great news for everyone, right?

The same common fan may think Mayweather is afraid if this fight doesn’t come into fruition because of Pacquiao’s recent offer. Even ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, a long-time Floyd Mayweather supporter through the years, recently said Mayweather is afraid to fight Pacquiao.

And any uninformed fan may agree, but is this the truth?

It’s been pointed out many times before, even though the notion may fall on deaf ears, that Pacquiao fights for money, not for the fans, not for legacy. Money is his priority, which it should be. There are many prime examples of this.

His fight against the aging Oscar De La Hoya fight was for money that also in turn propelled him towards worldwide super stardom.

It’s difficult to enhance a legacy when fighting a washed up version of a former great fighter. The same case when Pacquiao faced Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley and Juan Manuel Marquez.

All those guys were either on the down slide, had some sort disadvantage or visible weakness heading their fight with Pacquiao. But they all had a big name. Name recognition equals dollars. Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum knows that.

Why fight Marquez again for a fourth time? Pacquiao and company claim it’s for legacy and to settle the score, but is that the case?

In the record books it will show Pacquiao leads his series with Marquez, with two victories, no defeats and one draw. Many fans and boxing critics can make an argument Marquez won a couple, if not all of those closely contested fights. But at the end of the day, Pacquiao has two wins in a three fight series. Why fight him again?

Why doesn’t Pacquiao instead fight Timothy Bradley, who defeated him in his last fight?

Many fans and critics believe Pacquiao won the fight, but in the record books, it is a scored as a win for Bradley. If Pacquiao was fighting for legacy, or just out of sure competitiveness, wouldn’t he want to avenge is supposed loss against Bradley?

Pacquiao doesn’t want to fight in a rematch with Bradley, because there is more money in a fourth fight with Marquez. And probably because Marquez is pushing 40 while Bradley is 29. Pacquiao doesn’t care about legacy; he is a puppet and cares about money.

If he cared about legacy he wouldn’t have faced half his opponents in recent years at catch-weights, and if he truly wanted to fight Mayweather for his legacy, he would have underwent the random Olympic style drug tests and fought Mayweather years ago.

But his promoter wanted to squeeze every dollar out of Pacquiao, putting him against old, washed-up, in-house fighters, before risking a meeting with Mayweather.

I want every fighter to make as much money as possible; they put their lives on the line every time they step in the ring. It’s OK to fight for money: all fighters fight for money, they are professional prize fighters right?

It’s just there are double standards when it comes to Floyd and Manny. The only difference is Floyd is honest about it, it’s just that much of the media and many fans want to penalize him for his honesty.

Which brings us to another point. Who else is left for Pacquiao after he fights Marquez for a fourth time? Is he going to fight Marquez again? He won’t fight Bradley, it won’t be Sergio Martinez, so who else is there that can bring in money?

Pacquiao tried to get a rematch with Miguel Cotto, but at a catch-weight again and Cotto wisely declined. That’s a lucrative fight, but probably won’t happen.

There is the possibility of fighting Canelo Alvarez, but he is more inclined to fight Mayweather as they both deal with Golden Boy Promotions. And team Pacquiao would probably ask for the bigger Alvarez to come down to a catch-weight and I doubt he would do that.

Pacquiao is calling out Mayweather now, because he is desperate. But he still wants to dictate the terms to a certain extent with the 45-55 split.

If he wanted the fight just for legacy, he could have took the test years ago. I’m curious as to why Pacquiao is willing to do the drug tests now?

If he would have been willing to take the test three years ago, they could have made the fight and he would have gotten a 50-50 split as Mayweather had agreed to that during the initial negotiations.

Pacquiao does not draw in the same numbers as Mayweather, lost his last fight against Bradley, and has looked bad his last three fights against Bradley, Marquez and Mosley, thus holding no leverage whatsoever.

Manny needs Floyd. Floyd can fight Canelo Alvarez, rematch Miguel Cotto, fight Sergio Martinez or even fight Bradley and still make a ton of money.

Pacquiao doesn’t have the same options.