By Sizzle JKD: Here’s the thing, former Lineal WBC, WBA, and The Ring light middleweight champion, former WBO middleweight champion, and current Hall of Famer Oscar De La Hoya isn’t holding anything back when expressing his sentiments about the much anticipated Floyd Mayweather Jr-Manny Pacquiao clash that is heavily rumored to take place on May 2nd.
De La Hoya, who never shied away from taking on the best challengers in his division and has notable wins over Julio Cesar Chavez, Ike Quartey, Arturo Gatti, Pernell Whitaker, Hector Camacho, and the over-hyped Fernando Vargas, thinks Floyd is simply too afraid to put his undefeated record on the line against Filipino legend Manny Pacquiao.
“I’m not speaking to you as a promoter, I’m speaking to you as a fan, “De La Hoya said via RingTV.com. “I want the fight to happen, but I have a feeling that it’s not going to happen.”
De La Hoya has a point. Bob Arum and Manny Pacquiao have already gone public and acknowledged talks between the two camps have taken place and that an agreement had already been made regarding the purse split, venue, glove size, and date of the fight. Although no contract has been made viewable to the public, the fact that Pacquiao said he has signed his end of the contract while Floyd remains quiet only goes to show that there may be some last minute reluctance and hesitation coming from Mayweather.
Positive talks are ongoing between HBO and CBS/Showtime, which means they are progressing and that a deal to do a joint broadcast is imminent. The only thing that can hold up the fight from becoming official is Floyd’s unwillingness to step into the ring with the greatest challenge he’ll ever face.
This is not the first time Floyd has thrown curve balls to his fans and to the rest of the boxing public. A few years ago, he told the world, “Manny you’re next” while promoting the Victor Ortiz fight and the following day recanted his statement and said on camera that he never made such a comment.
Last year, Floyd asked millions of his Twitter fans to choose his next opponent and when his fans chose Amir Khan, he turned around and decided to fight Marcos Maidana.
In watching Floyd’s actions and hearing his statements, it’s extremely difficult to believe the words coming out of his mouth. You never know whether he’s telling the truth or not. We all know Al Haymon is the one who really runs the show for The Money Team and Floyd is probably just listening to Haymon after Haymon tells him what to do and how to approach things.
There is also the theory that Floyd is deathly afraid to get into the ring with Pacquiao. Popular opinion supports this notion, and the perception that Floyd doesn’t want to risk losing his “zero” or risk his health against the Filipino slugger is further enhanced by the fact there’s recent talk that Haymon and Floyd have reached out to Miguel Cotto and offered him a rematch.
A rematch with Cotto makes absolutely no sense because for one thing, Floyd has no plans in defending a belt at 160 lbs if he were to defeat Cotto because he wouldn’t want to risk his “zero” against an even more dangerous Gennady Golovkin.
Secondly, the world does not want to see a second fight between Cotto and Mayweather since Mayweather won a seemingly easy unanimous decision against Cotto in 2012 and there’s no guarantee that a rematch with Cotto will do more than 1.4 million PPV, which is ultimately not the type of investment that Floyd’s employers, Showtime, would want to risk.
“They have their deal in place, so now they are waiting on Mayweather,” De La Hoya stated. “I just don’t think Mayweather wants to fight Pacquiao.”
Whatever the reason is, if Floyd indeed doesn’t want to face his arch nemesis, his career and legacy will undoubtedly be questioned when boxing fans talk about him a hundred years from now.
Floyd and his team have repeatedly told reporters that fighting Pacquiao would be “easy work” and that Manny wouldn’t even be the toughest opponent Floyd will have faced. If so, then why is Floyd entertaining the possibility of another ho-hum fight with Cotto?
Floyd is also known as “Money” because he generates the most dollars than any athlete on earth. Fighting Pacquiao would net him at least $120 million, an amount he will never get by fighting any other opponent. Not taking advantage of this opportunity would place many question marks on Floyd’s true toughness as a fighter and as a warrior of the sport.
Will Floyd be forgotten or will he be remembered as one of “the best ever” once our children’s children are born?
The answer is staring him right in the face. As Pacquiao told TMZ on Friday, “Sign the contract.”
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