Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Manny Pacquiao: Boxing’s Double Standard

By Boxing News - 07/20/2013 - Comments

floyd111By Chester Rivers: Floyd Mayweather Jr. is regarded as the best fighter of today. His name has been consistently atop all p4p list most of his career yet, it was Manny Pacquiao who was awarded “The Fighter Of The Decade”. This is just one of the double standards between these two great fighters who will be forever linked in boxing history.

It’s funny to hear some of Mayweather’s naysayers try an discredit some of his biggest wins. They’ll suggest that De La Hoya, Mosley and Cotto were past their primes as fighters but give credit to rival Manny Pacquiao for his victories against those same fighters two of which were fought after Mayweather.

Manny Pacquiao is given credit for being the only fighter in history to win titles in eight different weight classes. After researching this record I came across some discrepancies to the truth. First, was it really eight titles? Many are unaware that Pacquiao never defeated Marco Antonio Barrera for a sanctioned title. Barrera’s title was vacated before the fight. The title at stake that night was for the Ring magazine title.

Ring magazine was not and is still not a sanctioning body. Manny also won a lightweight title from David Diaz. Of the three lightweight champions, Diaz, at the time, was considered the weakest of the three lightweight champions. The toughest fight for the 135 title would have been against lineal or recognized champion Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz.

At welterweight, Manny defeated Miguel Cotto but the lineal champion was Shane Mosley. Mosley knocked out Antonio Margarito to claim the title that Cotto lost. The vacant title won @ 154 against Margarito was between two fighters who only had one fight between them at junior middleweight. All of the titles that Floyd won was against the recognized champion of that particular weight class. With this piece of information it’s Mayweather 5 different weight classes vs. Manny’s 4 different weight classes.

Whose really the blame for their failed super fight? History will always blame Mayweather but research the facts for yourself before passing judgement. Mayweather had already signed the contract when he made demands for USADA testing. It was at that point when Top Rank and Manny refused. Pacquiao would make several excuses as to why he was unwilling to take the test. Mayweather then announced that he was pulling out of the fight. Since then several fighters has demanded blood testing. Some high profile fighters such as Andre Berto and Lamont Peterson has tested positive for banned substances.

These two boxers will be forever linked in boxing history. Many will pick sides. The purpose of this article is simple to give credit where credit is due and to shed light on boxing’s double standard.



Comments are closed.