By Frank Gonzalez Jr., Eastside Boxing
In lieu of a boxing version of the Super Bowl or World Series, the best we could hope for would be a big fight between two of the most hyped up fighters in the sport. And obviously that would mean Floyd vs. Manny. But now, we can’t even have that. I wanted to see if Floyd could counter punch the aggressive Manny with the kind of success he enjoyed over Ricky Hatton. But you had to figure this fight somehow wouldn’t happen, something would kill it. Businessmen fighters want low risks and high rewards. This fight may have been too dangerous for Floyd to risk. So here’s to the big media hype job followed by an equally big let down. Thanks Floyd.
What kind of businessman boxer lets a 30 million dollar fight go down the drain is a mystery--or is it?
Like Roy and Floyd before him, Manny Pacquiao has been groomed into the promotional status of “Best Pound for Pound Fighter” in boxing, which means all his fights are on Pay-Per-View from now on. Of the three, Manny has clearly been the most exciting to watch and most willing to fight tough fights that fans want to see. Roy fought a lot of duds and Floyd picks his own fruits once they’ve long fallen from the tree. Plus, it’s not a real title if you didn’t even fight the best fighters in your own weight class.
How did Manny just jump right past Tim Bradley, Nate Campbell, Kendall Holt or even Juan Diaz at 135, then hop over the top dogs at 147 and hit the lottery sweepstakes for richest purse in boxing; a PPV fight against an aged and faded Oscar De La Hoya? His performance against Ricky Hatton was impeccable but Hatton did not possess a major title and was coming off a devastating loss to Mayweather Jr. so he was clearly not the best either. Don’t you have to beat the best to be the best?
Manny is a great fighter, he’s humble, likable and well deserving of praise but in fighting the trio of expiring marquee name fighters he managed to duck a bunch of prime, top level fighters with title belts in his own weight class while becoming the “best P4P fighter in boxing.” How can there even BE a best p4p in boxing? How is that structured and is he going to fight the one of Klitschko brothers next? If there were a legit ranking system and Manny or Floyd beat everyone on that ladder of contention to get to the top, that would be valid but that’s not how anyone gets there these days. It’s clear that Manny’s been groomed so certain people can cash in big on his marketability. Unlike his two predecessors at P4P, Manny has not ducked anybody except avoiding a third fight with J.M. Marquez, who on the books, he has beaten twice.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. was the “best P4P fighter” but he retired at the start of 2008, right when his 147 pound division was really starting to heat up. Guys like Antonio Margarito, Paul Williams, Shane Mosley and Miguel Cotto were the inevitable opponents, none of whom Floyd appeared interested in facing. Two years later, when the waters calmed, Floyd bravely returned and decided to take on one of the best fighters in boxing. Too bad it was a guy from a division 15 pounds south of Floyd’s division of Welterweight (147). That was 126, 130 and 135 pound titlist Juan Manual Marquez, who had to move up to the 147 pounds to accommodate Floyd’s conditions to make the fight.
Aside from the obvious advantages Floyd afforded himself, on fight night Floyd showed up a few pounds over the contracted limit, for which he paid a $600,000 penalty to the Marquez camp. Floyd won every round of that boring, one sided Pay-Per-View event. He was too big, too fast and too slick for the smaller man with the big heart.
Floyd is very talented but his heart came into question after the Marquez fight when Shane Mosley jumped into the ring and challenged Floyd in front of the whole damn world—to fight him next. Floyd looked about to wet his trunks and things in the ring got weird for a minute, then settled down as Floyd told Mosley not to disrespect him, cause he don’t jump into the ring after Mosley fights to disrespect him. It was a fair point and Mosley was respectful to it but in a standoffish way. It was like watching a business deal fall dead on arrival.
Max Kellerman insisted on talking about a fight with Pacquiao but Floyd ignored it. Max ended the interview when Floyd decided to disregard questions about Manny Pacquiao and talk about what he wanted to talk about. Venue security kept things civil in the tense, crowded ring. But the damage had been done. Floyd gave the distinct impression that he’s afraid of Shane Mosley. There’s only one way to cure that.
The official line is that Floyd’s not interested because it’s not a marketable fight, since Mosley isn’t a good enough draw for PPV. What does it require to believe that?
Mosley has a few losses on his record but he’s shown that he’s still a great fighter. If Floyd’s so confident, why wouldn’t he jump on the chance to fight the very famous “Sugar” Shane Mosley? Could it be because of the way Mosley threw that wicked beating on another guy Floyd didn’t want to fight, named Antonio Margarito? A win over Mosley would be HUGE for Floyd. It would automatically give Floyd wins over Margarito and everyone else on Mosley’s resume that Mayweather fans thought Floyd shouldn’t have to fight because Mosley already beat them, and Floyd beat Mosley. That’s how it works, isn’t it?
And yet, who knows what Shane’s straw has been a stirring? He looked better against “dirty gloved” Margarito than I’ve ever seen him. That was strange, considering how drained and aged Shane looked after his twelve round last second knockout win over a clearly past his prime Ricardo Mayorga. Mosley was a year younger then and there was talk about whether he was closing out his career. But all the BALCO stuff aside, we all know Mosley’s clean. So why won’t Floyd fight him? He fits Floyd’s criteria perfectly, he’s a big name at the twilight of his career, what’s the problem? My guess is he’ll fight Andre Berto… after Mosley beats Berto. And Floyd will remain… the best P4P fighter in boxing. What will we be?
Aside from his hard to like personality, Floyd is an amazing talent on defense and offense. I’d love to see him take on someone like Mosley or get really bold and call out Paul Williams to show the world that yes, he is the best in boxing and has the rocks to prove it. Whatever anyone thinks of him, he has great reflexes and defensive boxing skills. I’ve only seen him lose once, and that was in a close fight with Jose Luis Castillo, who used pressure to check Floyd’s superior agility and boxing prowess by forcing him into continuous defensive postures, where Castillo was able to land to the body often and dictate the terms of engagement. At the end of that one, the Judges had Floyd’s back and Castillo was dealt a Loss by Decision.
There was a lot of buzz afterwards, questioning Floyd’s win that Floyd agreed to fight a rematch with Castillo, where he easily out boxed him for twelve rounds. It was a strange rematch, since Castillo didn’t look like he was there to win but just collect a big payday. Castillo did that against Ricky Hatton too, so who knows?
Floyd Mayweather Jr. may have a point about drug testing for Manny Pacquiao but the Nevada State Athletic Commission already uses a drug testing method that were okay with Floyd in the past but suddenly, is not good enough to fight Pacman. While watching Friday Night Fights on ESPN, Teddy Atlas weighed in on this issue of Floyd and Manny and how the fight is now officially OFF. He told how Manny’s camp is suing Mayweather’s camp for defamation of his character, as now, fans are talking about Manny being a possible user of performance enhancing drugs. Freddy Roach was on the show too and he said Manny is 100% clean. Teddy also remarked that a source of his said they had seen email exchanges between the Pacquiao and Mayweather camps asking what would happen if Manny did test positive.
Manny has never officially tested positive for steroids or other illegal substances in the past. Manny did not impose any dramatic conditions on Floyd in order to make this fight. Floyd did make unusual demands that did kill the fight. I doubt Floyd ever wanted to fight Manny. After the Marquez fight, Kellerman wanted to talk about Manny but Floyd wanted to change the subject.
So, instead of talking about Manny vs. Floyd, we’ll be talking about Manny vs. Josh Clottey instead. Hey, it’s not a great fight but it’s decent. Clottey has good skills and has hopefully has learned from the Cotto fight that appealing to the ref instead of appealing to your opponents face with your fists will not get it done where you’re the visiting team. Clottey will need a knockout to get a win against Manny in the USA. Many, including Manuel Stewart of HBO, think Clottey beat Cotto and have good arguments as to why. But Clottey, for all his skills and toughness, is not a good finisher. I’m picking Manny by TKO late.
But I’d much rather see Pacman vs. Tim Bradley at 140 pounds for their titles. But we’re not supposed to think about that. We have to “Unthink” like they say in those stupid, mind numbing KFC commercials on TV. Unthink and accept.
I’m not surprised to hear who Mayweather is considering fighting in place of Pacman—Paul Malignaggi. Wow, that should be exciting. Of course it will be on PPV, just to make it that much more exciting. My prediction; Floyd by decision. Yawn.
Floyd would do much to improve his standing by manning up and accepting Mosley’s challenge. Financially, he only stands to make a fortune fighting Mosley, win or lose. But if its heart he wants to show, I’m sure Paul Williams would love to fight Floyd on PPV. If Marquez could come up 15 pounds to fight Floyd, Floyd can move up seven pounds to fight Williams at 154. And since money is his primary motivation, think about this, what fight fan on Earth would miss Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. vs. Paul “The Punisher” Williams on PPV? That’s a lot of money.
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Comments can be emailed to dshark87@hotmail.com
Source: eastsideboxing.com
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