Pacquiao makes disappointing choice

By Leigh K. Seto - 08/11/2016 - Comments

Manny Pacquiao

By Leigh K. Seto: Manny Pacquiao as a young up and coming fighter was a dynamo only comparable to Roberto Duran himself. He was taking out not just hall of fame fighters like Cotto, Margarito and Hatton, but also legends like Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Oscar Dela Hoya and Juan Manuel Marquez. He garnered respect of the public and the world over.

Unfortunately, that fighter has been laid to rest. He has become the corporate with Bob Arum and those challenges are so far gone now, it’s just folk lore.

The Tim Bradley 3 fight, Brandon Rios, Chris Algeri, and now Jessie Vargas just has the look of a pathetic older fighter hanging on, ala 2016 Roy Jones Jr. Vargas a talented young fighter at best, but his lack of power and his struggle against Bradley just cries of a recent Top Rank card where the favored fighter winning is a forgone conclusion.

It’s an exhibition fight lacking any competition. Sure, it will draw interest from Pacquiao die hards, but it’s a 200k pay-per-view fight at best, that should really be a 50k pay-per-view buy fight, because the outcome is already written in stone.

To get the Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight Manny will have to shock the world. First of all, there is little interest in the rematch because the first fight wasn’t close. Secondly, because his cut of 100 million in the first fight will probably be 1/4 of that, Mayweather definitely will not take a pay cut the second time around. The pay-per-view will not equal the first fight, so someone is getting their purse cut and who do you think has the negotiation edge the second time around? Manny Pacquiao needs to update his brand and make a noise. The only way Pacquiao makes a noise is by beating Keith “One Time” Thurman, Adrien Broner, or Terence Crawford.

Pacquiao needs a name that people know and respect; otherwise there is no rematch with Floyd. Bradley beat Vargas easily, and Pacquiao beat Bradley the same. That definitely doesn’t help the sales. The first fight with Floyd did great, but that fight disenchanted fans. Pacquiao needs a sensational win against a marquee name fighter to spark the interest of fans and Mayweather; otherwise the rematch with him will never happen. But the old Pacquiao died long ago in a blaze of glory, and what’s left is a shell of a fighter likely to disappear slowly like a once great Roy Jones Jr.