By Chris Williams: ESPN writer Dan Rafael seems to be having fun goading Top Rank promoter Bob Arum for his rather weak excuse given for not matching WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao up with WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 5th.
Arum said Pacquiao can’t make the fight with Mayweather because it’s still too early for Pacquiao because of a cut he suffered in his fight with Juan Manuel Marquez.
The cut required 28 stiches to be closed, Rafael points on his twitter, and yet Vitali Klitschko was able to fight six months later after suffering a much worse cut against Lennox Lewis in 2003. Vitali’s cut needed 60 stiches to be closed, but he was still back in the ring six months later against Kirk Johnson in December 2003 for an easy 2nd round TKO win for Vitali.
Rafael said “Vitali needed 60 stitches for cut vs. @LennoxLewis & fought less than 6 mths later. Pacquiao needed 28 stitches but can’t be ready for May. At least Arum’s excuse has nothing to do with an injured toe.”
I know Pacquiao’s fans don’t think he’s ducking this fight with Mayweather but it sure looks like Pacquiao’s promoter Arum wants no part in matching him against Mayweather. That’s good and bad. It’s good because Pacquiao won’t have to risk getting beaten anytime soon, as Arum will likely keep matching him against guys that he knows Pacquiao can beat. But it’s bad because it gives the appearance that Arum doesn’t have any faith in Pacquiao being able to beat Mayweather, and it also holds Pacquiao back in terms of his boxing legacy.
If all Arum is going to do is keep matching him against his own fighters in his Top Rank stable, Pacquiao’s legacy won’t mean nearly as much after he retires. He’s got six division world titles but there are a lot of soft victories among all those wins due the high number of champions in all of the divisions, as well as Pacquiao’s two catchweight title victories. Those are wins that some people feel should asterisks next to them.
Can you imagine if Roger Maris was able to have the fences pulled in closer when he was going after Babe Ruth’s record of 60 homeruns. No one would have taken his record seriously if he did that, would they? Handicaps have a way of tainting wins and those two handicap title victories are really questionable as to whether they should even be counted.
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