Mayweather acknowledges Pacquiao’s greatness by not fighting him

By Augie Cruz - 04/23/2014 - Comments

mayweather45By Augie Cruz: A lot has been said and discussed about the potential super fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao but very little has been accomplished. Furthermore, it seems that the legion of fans that follow Mayweather are against such fight instead of supporting it. Why is that? Well, I think I can put my 2 cents as to why. In 2008, the casual boxing fan got exposed probably for the first time to Pacquiao. They saw the little man send Oscar De La Hoya into retirement and fell in love with his relentless and ferocious attack which is something boxing had been lacking for some time.

They admired a man that was very dominant but vulnerable at the same time and most if not all can associate with that. Now, from 2007 until 2009, the #1 pound-for-pound fighter (Mayweather) was retired. Some say because there were no opponents left and some say because he wanted to avoid certain fighters (Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito, Paul Williams, etc…).

Don’t get me wrong; I think Mayweather is one of the great boxers of our generation, even if this generation of boxers isn’t very good, but nonetheless he does stand out. The one thing that most people either seem to ignore or just plain oversee is the fact that Mayweather, prior to Pacquiao coming onto the scene, had never asked or demanded any other boxer for Olympic style drug testing or asked any of his opponents to leave his promotion company in order to secure a fight with him. So why do it with Pacquiao?

Some will say that Mayweather hated Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum and doesn’t do business with him, but if that is the case then why didn’t Mayweatger stipulate that back in 2009 or 2010 or 2011? Others will say that since a lot of other fighters have been caught using steroids and given the fact that Pacquiao had been plowing thru opponents like they weren’t even there, then it must mean that Pacquiao is on something. In my opinion, Mayweather basically acknowledged Pacquiao’s greatness by implying that he is taking steroids.

If being good in the ring and dispatching your opponents with ease means that you’re on PED’S then shouldn’t we also suspect Mayweather of being on PED’S? Of course there are those who say that Mayweather would very easily dispose of Pacquiao in the ring, they say that it would be such an easy fight that it would be like taking candy from a baby; well if that is the case, why wouldn’t Mayweather take the fight against Pacquiao, beat him easily and collect what will most likely be the biggest purse in boxing history? Isn’t his nickname Money? There’s a very good chance that if they were to ever face each other in the squared circle, Mayweather would win a close split decision but there’s also a good chance that he will lose and maybe get hurt in the process and I think that that’s what keeping the fight from happening.

Boxing is not a game like pokemon cards where one simply calls out their characters strengths against the other and declare the winner, on paper the Miami Heat are too good against a team like the Boston Celtics and should beat them every time they face each other but that is not the case as the Celtics have beaten the Heat several times, that is why the play the games. In conclusion I would like to add that old saying “To be the best you have to beat the best”, how legitimate would Michael Jordan’s championships be if every year in the playoffs and finals all he had to face were the Washington Wizards?



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