By Eric Baldwin: There’s a slight possibility that we could see a rematch between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao in 2017 in what would be a rematch of their boring and some would say highly overpriced ‘fight of the century’ match last year in May 2015. There’s no indication that the Mayweather-Pacquiao rematch will take place next year, but if it does, it could potentially cause fallout if the middleweight fight between champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and Saul Canelo Alvarez takes place after it in September 2017.
If the boxing public is angered by anther less than compelling match-up between Mayweather and Pacquiao like the previous fight, the fans might be less willing to put their hard-earned money into a fight involving Golovkin and Canelo.
That’s a fight that promises action from start to finish if Golden Boy Promotions lets their golden goose Canelo take the fight with Golovkin next year. It’s still unclear if they will. They might choose to wait Golovkin out until he ages some more before they put Canelo in with him. But if it does take place next year, hopefully the fight isn’t impacted by a Mayweather-Pacquiao rematch.
We’ve heard how Pacquiao wasn’t at his best last year for the Mayweather fight due to him having an injured shoulder. Pacquiao has since had his shoulder repaired through surgery, and has won his last two fights against Top Rank fighters Tim Bradley and Jessie Vargas. Pacquiao looks about the same as he did when his shoulder was injured though. He doesn’t look improved.
We saw Mayweather fight last year in September in beating Andre Berto by a boring 12 round decision. Mayweather had before the fight that it was going to be an entertaining affair. It wasn’t. The fight ended up on pay-per-view, and it was hard to watch, because Berto fought like an old man in that fight. Mayweather could have done much better if he’d fought a younger fighter with some power and will to win like Keith Thurman. Mayweather has since retired from boxing. But that doesn’t mean he won’t come back.
A lot of fans suspect that Mayweather is just taking a vacation until he decides to return to the ring to fight Pacquiao again or someone like Conor McGregor in what would be a terrible mismatch if it happens.
“Still, they shared in the biggest economic event in the history of the sport, so it is inevitable that a cynical expectation they will do it again now ensues,” HBO commentator Jim Lampley said via RingTV about the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight from 2015. “Regardless of the one-sidedness and non-existent entertainment value of the first meeting, regardless of the age and diminishing punching power of the combatants. The contrast could not be clearer with the new super-fight which now waits on the horizon. Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez are both at are near their competitive peaks. Neither has suffered a personal life error which blemishes the image. Both are aggressive boxer punchers, the most entertaining kind of fighters to watch. We are being made to wait, but as yet there is no expectation we will have to wait five years, or even close to it. There’s a decent chance Triple G-Canelo can take place in calendar 2017. So it would be a shame, and another loss for boxing, if casual fans and the general public were distracted by a for-profit-only replay of a considerably less interesting fight.”
If Canelo-Golovkin takes place after the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao II rematch, then it’s quite possible that the fight won’t do nearly as good pay-per-view numbers than it would if it takes place before. If Mayweather and Pacquiao fight each other again in another boring fight, the boxing public might not be too keen to buy another pay-per-view fight, especially if the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight is a high priced fight like their previous fight. That one went for $100-$110 on HBO/Showtime pay-per-view.
For the actual fight the fans got on that night, they got very little value for their money because it was a terrible fight to watch due to the lack of action. You can argue that Mayweather and Pacquiao didn’t owe it to the fans to turn their fight into a brawl. All they were required to do was win the fight and do it by taking the least amount of punishment as possible in the process. However, when fans purchase pay-per-view events, they want to be entertained with action, and the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight failed to give them the action they were expected.
That’s why if a rematch between the two superstars takes place in early 2017, it’s going to potentially impact the Canelo vs. Golovkin fight later in the year in September 2017 if the fight isn’t a thrilling one. You never know. If Mayweather and Pacquiao fight each other again, it might be exciting the second time around.
Pacquiao will certainly give it his all to try and make it an exciting fight, because he’s commented recently that he wants to make it exciting for the fight fans. However, if Mayweather decides to box and move or 12 rounds like he did last time he fought Pacquiao, it would not be good news for the sport and potentially for the Golovkin vs. Canelo fight if it takes place later in the year. You’d hate for the Mayweather-Pacquiao rematch to suck the life out of the sport and leave fans angry and unwilling to purchase the Canelo vs. Golovkin fight.