Still, Pacquiao maintained his place on the pound-for-pound throne, forced some marketplace contemplation at HBO by taking the fight to Showtime’s pay-per-view arm (they may not have the equal subscriber bases, but they reach the same PPV providers), and kept a six-year unbeaten streak intact.
With all that said, a few things of note:
Floyd Mayweather remains the opponent who makes the most sense for Pacquiao -- remember back when people used to worry about who was the most sensible opponent for Mayweather? -- but it’s illogical to expect it this year.
If they haven’t fought by 2013 -- remember when we thought they might have fought twice, even three times by then? -- then it’s probably illogical to expect it, ever.
So if they defy logic yet again, super. You would think a fight almost certain to be the richest in history, between two men fortunate to share the same weight division simultaneously, would be rubber-stamped. Then money, steroid talk, blood testing, blood rivalry, a lawsuit and a lot of ego got in the way.
Mayweather hasn’t fought in 374 days, and counting, with no firm plan to fight, much less a firm fight planned. He panned Pacquiao-Mosley beforehand by urging fans, via Twitter, to watch Lady Gaga on HBO instead, as if they shared demographics.
If Mayweather is still that concerned about boxing, and taking the play away from Pacquiao, he remains the most empowered and best equipped to do something about it.
Mayweather-Pacquiao wouldn’t make or break boxing, which may never be makable again, and certainly isn’t breakable. There are plenty of fights that fight fans want.
There’s only one that sports fans want.
Pacquiao’s most likely next opponent is Juan Manuel Marquez, whom he has faced twice previously, in epic fights at much lighter weights. They fought to a 2004 draw that Marquez dominated after suffering three first-round knockdowns, and a 2008 Pacquiao split decision. Plenty of people argue that Marquez won both.
Those fights were at 126 and 130 pounds. Pacquiao now fights at 147. Marquez has fought heavier than 135 only once, when he weighed 142 and Mayweather routed him for 12 rounds. Mayweather was criticized for making his comeback, after a 21-month layoff, against a much smaller foe. Now, Pacquiao is braced to face the same fighter, at approximately the same weight, three years later.
Maybe that’s why Mayweather criticizes Pacquiao for fighting his pre-tenderized victims -- Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Mosley and perhaps Marquez.
So is there any reason to watch Pacquiao-Marquez III?
Yes, because in the absence of a Mayweather fight, Pacquiao needs a measuring stick to judge himself against ... himself.
A third Marquez fight could indicate how much Pacquiao has improved in the past three years, against someone who offers a familiar template. And if it ends up another survival struggle, at a weight where Marquez didn’t look comfortable last time, then perhaps promoter Bob Arum’s hyperbole that Pacquiao is the best fighter he has ever seen would warrant reconsideration.
That is, unless Marquez is to Pacquiao as Ken Norton was to another Arum-promoted fighter of some note, Muhammad Ali.
Arum never has done a better job than with Pacquiao, who has done his part by winning big and endearing himself to the buying public and adoring countrymen in the Philippines, while the promoter serves up big-name has-beens at the perfect time in their athletic descent.
Arum has encouraged Pacquiao to keep alive the defamation lawsuit against Mayweather and others, related to steroid accusations, as a bargaining chip. And since December 2009, boxing’s biggest promoter has convinced everyone that boxing’s biggest fight has somehow, mysteriously, escaped his arbitrating, negotiating, cajoling, compromising control.
Meantime, Arum has fed Pacquiao three of his own fighters -- Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito -- and free-agent Mosley, all of whom got big paydays for fighting the king of Arum’s Top Rank stable. Arum keeps all the promotional profits while feeding Pacquiao easy-to-make fights against opponents his company knows well, and considers safe. Pacquiao wins and earns. Mayweather sits and tweets.
Barnum and Bailey had nothing on Bob Arum.
Shane Mosley grabbed a payday. Let’s hope it’s his last.
E-mail David Mayo: dmayo@grpress.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/David_Mayo
Source: mlive.com
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