By Chris Robinson, Examiner.com
As we take officially take in the New Year it still seems a bit surreal that on March 13th we most likely won’t be seeing Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather do battle. While ultimately disappointing, at least for now, it is what it is and all we can do is move forward with the hopes that one day the two men will meet.
One man who probably isn’t terribly crushed is the Ring Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Nigel Collins, who had been very vocal in weeks past about the possibility that a Pacquiao-Mayweather showdown could very well be less than scintillating in terms of action. Speaking recently in a piece entitled ‘Careful What You Wish For’, Collins opened up on his thoughts on the bout from the get go.
“The possibility of a Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather fight has captured the imagination like no other in recent memory,” Collins stated. “The overwhelming consensus is that the match is absolutely the greatest thing that could happen to our eternally embattled and incredibly resurgent sport. I’m not so sure.”
Elaborating further, Collins flashed back to May of 2007 when the aforementioned Mayweather did battle with another one of the sports biggest superstars.
“Remember when Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya fought?” Collins asked. “The biggest money-maker in boxing history, right? A pay-per-view bonanza so large that it floored even the folks who promoted and televised it. But what did the mainstream media say the day after that fight? Boxing is dead because it had been a boring fight. Forget the unprecedented financial success. The fight sucked.”
While a primed Pacquiao would seemingly bring much more fire and excitement to the ring than a 34 year old De La Hoya, Collins never felt that meshing his style with Floyd’s would produce something eye-opening.
“Anybody who thinks that Pacquiao-Mayweather is going to be a great fight hasn’t been paying attention,” Collins boldly claimed. “When is the last time that Mayweather has been in a great fight? The Ricky Hatton fight had a great finish but was hardly a great fight.”
Collins went on to state that while Mayweather is a fantastic boxer, he didn’t have the proper mindset towards being the greatest of all-time as he claims. Some would counter Collins by saying that pitting Mayweather with Pacquiao’s relentless attack would bring out the best in Floyd. Collins doesn’t seem to take the bate.
“Moreover, don’t expect Pacquiao’s whirlwind aggression to compensate for Mayweather’s safety first style,” Collins pointed out. “There’s an outside possibility Pacquiao could impose his will enough to force a good fight, but not a great one. It takes two to do that. And unlike Pacquiao, the last thing on Mayweather’s mind will be to make everybody happy.”
In closing Collins stated his belief that the fight will one day happen, but fears how the eventual outcome may look.
“Some fights are just meant to be and Pacquiao-Mayweather appears to be one of them. It’s going to happen and it should. I have no beef with the necessities of history. Yet I still worry. I have this haunting feeling that we’ve already seen the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight, and it’s going to look a lot like the final few rounds of the Pacquiao-Cotto fight-one guy running and the other guy chasing him. And if that’s not bad enough, wait until you read the headlines the next day.”
Collins was far from shy in sharing his feelings before the fight itself fell apart and looking back his words are almost chilling in some regards. For a fight that has been clamored for by nearly everyone, seeing Collins go against the grain and state his beliefs was somewhat striking. As a fan first, all I can hope is that Pacquiao and Floyd do meet and that they end up proving Collins wrong by producing something memorable. Gut feeling here is that Collins and everyone else involved wouldn’t mind too much.
Source: examiner.com
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