“Satisfactory” was Arum's rating of the sparring session with Glen Tapia and Michael Medina. More importantly, Coach Freddie Roach was OK with how Pacman did.
Sparring is the most overrated aspect of a fighter's training. If I replaced the word “sparring” with practice, I think you would get my point.
Pacquiao is not supposed to slugging away with his hired hands in a simulation of what will happen in the ring at Cowboys Stadium on Nov. 13.
Sure, Pacquiao could beat both Tapia and Medina like a pair of drums but for what purpose?
Pacquiao said that they are now going to concentrate on speed and that is how things should be with the fight a little less than four weeks away.
Meanwhile, every day new reports come out of Camp Margarito about how awesome, how sensational Margarito is looking.
Did you expect anything less, anything less than glowing reports?
If people knew and understood that Margarito's best chance is not of winning, but of claiming a moral victory for lasting the 12 round limit, it would not stimulate ticket sales at Jerry Jones football playpen.
There are several reasons why I think this fight won't have the same Dallas area impact as did Pacquiao's debut there March 13 against unwilling participant Joshua Clottey.
They are:
1—Margarito is no Mexican icon, not widely popular south of the border and he never was that popular in the U.S. Barrera, Morales, even Juan Manuel Marquez, those are hugely popular Mexican fighters. It's hard to appeal to the pride of Mexican fight fans when, in your last major fight, you were caught attempting to cheat in the locker room.
2—Pacman's first bout in the stadium was such a novelty that Clottey did not even matter. The second appearance by Pacman does not have the same impact, particularly when he's dragging the disgraced opponent with him.
3—Football and spring football, you know the old line about the two favorite sports in Texas. And now the Texas Rangers are facing the Yankees in the ALCS. If you're a Metroplex resident and sports fan, how do you skip Cowboys home games and the Rangers postseason games in favor of a fight between two foreigners?
But we shall see what we shall see. I expect Arum and Jones to cosmetically pack the stadium in a variety of ways, including those ever popular “Party Passes,” for which you get entry but not a seat.
I think the turnout on Nov. 13 is going to get the same grade as Arum assigned to Manny's practice session.
“Satisfactory” but not sensational.
The only thing that might be sensational is Pacquiao's peformance.
He just might dazzle the slow stepping Margarito and the rest of us.
But I wonder, if Manny looks too good, too sharp, too much like the reigning P4P king, might it just push Floyd Mayweather even farther away from ever accepting the Super Fight?
Come to think of it, Pacman looking “satsifactory” might lure Mayweather into a fight next May.
Being "sensational" might be the final straw in driving reluctant Mayweather deeper into his bunker.
Just win, Manny, just win.
Then you can save the "sensational" for Floyd.
(mlcmarley@aol.com)
Source: examiner.com
No comments:
Post a Comment