By Chris Williams: After missing out on a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr in 2009 due the fight not being negotiated because of the random blood tests that Mayweather wanted, Manny Pacquiao and his promoter Bob Arum are really hoping that they can set up a fight with Mayweather in early 2015.
Arum and Pacquiao both feel that Pacquiao’s wins over Brandon Rios, Chris Algieri and Tim Bradley were big enough wins to get him a fight against Mayweather. Unfortunately, I’m not sure that Mayweather agrees with them, as those victories were hardly what you can call huge wins.
You can make a strong argument that Pacquiao blew his chance at fighting Mayweather in 2009 when he had a chance to fight him. It’s possible that Pacquiao thought he could easily pick up negotiations at a later date and face him. In hindsight, Pacquiao clearly blew it by walking away from the negotiations with Mayweather and opting to fight Joshua Clottey instead of sticking it out and doing whatever he had to in order to get the Mayweather fight made.
“The people deserve that fight. The fans deserve that fight,” Pacquiao said after his win over Algieri last Saturday night. “It’s time to make that fight happen. It’s been a long time. I want that fight. They’re always denying the fight. I think the fight has to happen.”
Mayweather has the power right now, and if a fight between him and Pacquiao is going to happen, then it’ll be up to Mayweather if he wants it to take place. It’s obviously not a good thing that Pacquiao hasn’t beaten a really quality fighter in ages. To be sure, beating Brandon Rios, Tim Bradley, and Algieri are decent scalps, but those wins don’t compare with the victories that Mayweather has picked up recently in twice beating Marcos Maidana, and defeating Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, Miguel Cotto and Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero.
“To answer the telephone. Simple as that,” Arum said via ESPN.com.“I think that fight should happen. I think the boxing fans deserve that fight. If boxing is to be considered a major sport, the fight has to happen and all the nonsense has to cease. “Everyone should work together to make it happen. There are no more excuses. None. I’ll be by my phone, Manny will be by his phone. We’re ready.”
Just because Arum and Pacquiao are ready to face Mayweather doesn’t mean he should drop everything and agree to fight the aging Filipino fighter. Mayweather has his own schedule that he’s following, and he doesn’t need to drop everything just because Pacquiao and Arum suddenly want to set up a fight against him. It’s not as if they didn’t have the chance to make the fight happen in 2009 when Mayweather was very interested in the fight taking place.
Mayweather wanted to fight Pacquiao in 2012, but instead of the fight happening, there was talk of an outdoor stadium needing to be built. There was also talk of Pacquiao having a cut that needed more time to heal. As such, Pacquiao was matched against Juan Manuel Marquez for a fourth time. That fight ended up being a disastrous one with Pacquiao getting knocked out cold by Marquez in the 6th round. In hindsight, it obviously would have been a better thing for Pacquiao to have fought Mayweather rather than Marquez.
“We’re tired. Everywhere we go they ask when is it going to happen? Arum said. “When are they going to fight? I say enough is enough. Just make the fight happen. Let’s get it done and let’s get it done the next fight for each fighter, sometime in the first six months of next year.”
By showing so much interest in the Mayweather fight, Arum could end up hurting Pacquiao’s cause in getting the fight, because if they come across as too needy then Mayweather will likely go in another direction and face someone else rather than face someone who appears to want the fight too much. What you don’t want is for Pacquiao and Arum to come off as being too needy because it could send red flags to Mayweather and his team. They might end up wondering why Pacquiao suddenly needs the fight with him to badly at this time.
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