By John F. McKenna (McJack): World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (42-0, 26 KO’s) continues to assert that his number one rival WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KO’s) just popped out of nowhere onto the fistic scene as one of the most iconic boxers of recent times.
Apparently “Money” Mayweather really does believe that “Pacman” achieved all of his amazing success due to the use of Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDS). Pacquiao, however has never tested positive for PEDS and Floyd does not have a shred of evidence to back up the endless innuendo and insinuations coming out of the Mayweather camp.
In fact Mayweather is seen in a video before Pacquiao became a threat to him saying that he loves watching Manny fight and that he is an extraordinary fighter. It only stands to reason that those close to Mayweather and Pacquiao are going to have bias in favor of their fighter. Therefore, instead of the Mayweather and Pacquiao camps hurling accusations at each other lets take a look at the early accomplishments of both fighters to ascertain if in fact Pacquiao came out of nowhere as Mayweather now claims.
Floyd was quoted by YAHOO! SPORTS saying:
“It’s just so crazy that a guy can pop out of nowhere and be such an amazing fighter. A guy like me has been doing it since the 90’s, dominating the sport and being the best out there. The guy just popped out of nowhere and people are trying to say he’s on the level of a Floyd Mayweather, when I’ve been dominating and doing this for twenty years now.”
When Floyd Mayweather Jr. won his first world title he was 21 years, 7 months old in his 18th pro fight in October 1998. Surprisingly though Manny won his first world title just two months later in December 1998 when he was not yet 20 years old in his 25th fight. Pacquiao took his 2nd world title just 30 months later in June 2001 when he was 22 years and 6 months old. Mayweather on the other hand took 44 months to win his 2nd title in April 2002.
So the argument that Pacquiao came out of nowhere to achieve what he has in the ring does not hold water. It is always difficult for stars in any sport to accept that there is another star whose accomplishments may surpass their own. That does not mean that Pacquiao would defeat Mayweather in the ring. What it most certainly does explain however is Floyd’s seeming reluctance to engage Pacqiao to determine once and for all who the première fighter of our time is. Floyd was encouraged by Manny’s sub par performance against Juan Manuel Marques, but that fight may just have been an off night for Pacquiao and Mayweather seeming understands the risk involved in fighting Manny Pacquiao.
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