By Dominic Panaia: There is a buzz in the air and everyone from the average Joe to the sports crazed fans are talking boxing, but not just any boxing but about the Floyd Mayweather v Manny Pacquiao.
You can visit any sites, whether its basketball or football in America, soccer in Europe and AFL in Australia and you can bet your bottom dollar that the May 2 showdown will come up.
On one side there is the Pacquiao fans with the Manny’s speed is too good, his angles are too great, his power is unreal and his volume will destroy Mayweather. The trainer Freddie Roach agrees, as does promoter Bob Arum, the president of Top rank Promotions, that Manny will overwhelm Floyd and wear him down and KO him.
On the other side the fans of Mayweather are saying Floyd’s defense is too good, his punches are too sharp and Manny can’t land enough to trouble Floyd. Mayweather’s trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr is telling everyone that it’s an easy night for Floyd because Manny ain’t nothing special.
Somewhere in between are the major media outlets; you know, the guys that are on TV talking boxing. They meet the boxers and know the game and they debate the outcome. ESPN commentators Skip Bayless, with his love of Manny, and Stephen A Smith, with his love of Mayweather. With the things celebrities are saying and other sports stars you can really feel the tension starting to tighten for Manny and Floyd as they approach their date with destiny.
In the past, I have written about this match up and showed technical differences between the two fighters showed statistics that matter when the match-up takes place. Well, all this means nothing come May 2nd as these two pound for pound fighters meet in the middle of the ring for the first time. I would, however, like to touch on things that have been cast around the globe over the last few months in the lead up.
First thing is the glove issue. I know how deep this issue was for Floyd Mayweather during the Marcos Maidana fights, and I noticed how much emphasis was placed on this issue through the media in the lead up and aftermath of the fights.
Secondly, the rematch clause. As we know the web was abuzz as this was stipulated in the early days of the fight. Trainer Freddie Roach broke the news that Mayweather had asked and everyone labelled Mayweather scared. Skip and Stephen A even spoke of it on first take.
Thirdly, the 60-40 purse split; we all know that Mayweather found it offensive to have Manny get 50-50 and it prompted Manny to come out and say I’ll take whatever. I agree to everything you want. So here we are faced with a lot of unanswered question. It was first raised as a few things that Manny agreed to then sign the contract with the gloves the split and the drug tests.
It was an interesting thing to be enlightened after the negotiations that the glove issue wasn’t a problem. Obviously because Manny is allowed to wear his gloves, and the reason I say not an issue because remember that Manny said I agree to everything. So if Floyd had actually wanted the gloves changed, I am guessing it would be. Also the purse split. I mean, if Manny didn’t care and this isn’t about money, Floyd just wants everything. But I agree to everything then this is unusual for me, because if he really agree to anything I find it hard to believe that Mayweather wanted to pay Manny the 40%. Considering Pacquiao’s PPVs were only doing around 500k, it seemed that Mayweather was going to ask for 30% of the purse for their mega-fight, which he didn’t because as we know Manny agrees to everything so Floyd must have offered him 40% out of the goodness of his heart.
The drug tests was always going to be an non issue, as Manny knew that if he wanted to fight Floyd he had to take the tests. It was a no brainer, but the rematch clause kind of was I mean apparently the first thing Floyd wanted was a rematch. Remember, he wanted it so bad first take spoke about it because Skip Bayless stated Floyd was so scared and knew he will lose he wants the rematch. It turns out Floyd didn’t want a rematch, of course. If he did it would have been done remember Manny agreed to everything let’s just fight.
This is the kind of stuff that is killing the sport we love and respect because people would rather listen to ESPN’s Dan Rafael than the boxers themselves. They would rather quote media people than the actual fighters that are in the ring. Now many times I have actually hoped that the media outlets and writers would take the step of knowing when they are in fact hurting the sport more than anyone out there. A writer actually wrote a whole article and sent it out in its entirety about the fact that Floyd Mayweather said no comment it’s a basketball game not a fight. Tt’s my private time this is not a story; it’s a reaction to being told no.
I can see why some writers take these avenues I mean any press is good press, but surely they look at the screen and say damn this isn’t really a story I might just actually try and interview someone else and get a real story going. I do this for free. I do this because I love the sport, and I do these articles because this is what I have always loved doing. To me, it’s much easier to do this than to debate with friends and family over who is better because many of the people I know can’t tell you who Manny has even beaten or Floyd has fought without checking his record on Boxrec.
So for the next five weeks we will sit and take part in the biggest fight of the century. As we read everyone’s twitter and Facebook looking for a nasty comment, we can debate for fun. We will read the papers and internet, watch Youtube and argue over dinner or at the pub with friends. There is nothing more exciting than the lead up to a big fight we wait and wait, and when the wait is over we are either upset because our fighter didn’t win or we are too busy celebrating to remember how the fight actually panned out.
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