By Babatis Banda: I am fully aware that these issues have been exhausted and discussed too numerous times to count. However, I find them irresistible as they form the co-arguments on both sides. I want to be as sober as I possibly can and try to look into these issues with an intellect approach, different from the daily dumb ‘noise makers’ that make the bulk of these arguments and accusations.
The first question is, Is Mayweather Jnr really afraid of Pacquiao? The main argument has been that Mayweather has put road blocks to the fight by making unreasonable demands. First, by asking for RBT to be conducted to both of them and second, by demanding a larger share of the money. So, is there any reasonable explanation why Mayweather should have these demands?
My thinking is that, Mayweather was certainly concerned with how Pacquiao was going through the Divisions and literally dismembering bigger fighters than himself. He was certainly concerned otherwise he would have agreed to fight without RBT. So here again, we can call genuine concern to be fear if we choose to. People have accused Floyd of being protective of the ‘0’. Yes, all fighters are protective of some record otherwise they would not be prize fighters. All fighters fight to win, excerpt that Floyd has not lost yet and he has to be protective of his record, the ‘0’. That does not mean that he should fight people that have questionable abilities without raising alarm. That would be carelessness.
If Floyd is really scared as it is put, why did he not rush to fight Pacquiao when he had a terrible showing with Marquez? How come Floyd is not rushing to fight Pacquiao even when Pacquiao is coming off a defeat? One thing we will never know for sure is if Mayweather Jnr truly believes Pacquiao was on something or he was just trying to unsettle him and he fell for the trick and made it difficult not have him as a suspect.
Was Pacquiao on something? My personal belief again is that, probably Pacquiao has never been on any prohibited substance. The biggest problem again is that we will never know for sure. The only way we could have known was for Pacquiao to take the tests. These are simple random tests and then he could have proved to the world that he was really outstanding. What it would have done was to embarrass the Mayweathers and probably beat up Floyd and go down in history as another great. Now, this chance is gone, his performance is down the hill and anybody can claim that he is now off the staff because of the accusations.
Does Floyd deserve a larger share? Well, you can say yes for the same reason there has never been a 50-50 split in any huge fight in recent history. You can argue that Floyd deserves a larger share because unlike other sports, the split for boxing is predetermined win or lose. The fact that Pacquiao is coming off a loss also suggests that Floyd is the man to beat. Worse still, Floyd is undefeated, undented. You can also argue that a 50-50 split makes sense because Pacquiao is also a big sell. At the end of the day, these issues can only be sorted out in a meaningful negotiation which I believe has been hard to make and has never taken place.
In conclusion, Floyd is certainly not afraid, and there is no proof that Manny was ever on anything. You need to realise though that past tests cannot put the seal to the argument because they were never RBT and that other fighters are known to have passed these tests but later somehow caught to have been cheating.
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