By Warren Cloud: The fact that the Pacquiao/Mayweather fight will not happen on March 13 (and will probably never will), is certainly a major disappointment for all boxing fans. What it boils down to is greed and unreasonable demands by the fighters, camps, and promoters involved. Most boxing professionals and analysts believe that this fight could have been as big, or bigger than the super fights of the likes of Marvin Hagler/Tommy Hearns.
It also terribly foolish that both fighters will be throwing millions upon millions of dollars away by not fighting one another, but big money and disappointment aside, the prospect of this fight could have also been quite damaging to the world of boxing. The enormous amount of greed and childlike bickering by both parties would have put a bitter taste in the mouths of faithful boxing fans, but more importantly, it would have disgusted the casual fan whose only interest would be to watch a great fight between the two pound for pound kings.
The most damaging element of this fiasco are the accusations by Floyd Mayweather Jr. and senior that Pacquiao’s success is due to his use of steroids, an accusation that is groundless because there has never been evidence showing that Pacquiao is taking or has ever taken steroids. The 90s proved to be an extremely trying and damaging decade to the sport of baseball when proof of Sammy Sosa and other homerun kings were found to have taken steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. Some might think that mere accusations compared to proof of steroid use are two totally different things, but even the greatest of all cyclists, Lance Armstrong who was never found to have used steroids, lost credibility worldwide. The fact that it is widely known that many football and basketball players carry guns has proved to damaging to the two sports. Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton were recently found to have carried and stored firearms in their lockers. Only weeks ago, Freddy Roach accused Floyd Mayweather of being involved in a shooting in August of 2008, an incident which Mayweather was never charged with.
Although the ratings for football and baseball may not have drastically suffered from the well known fact that athletes sometimes use steroids and carry firearms, it is very possible that the same could not be said about boxing. Historically boxing has been known to have been controlled by the mafia, and there have been many well known instances of fighters “taking a dive” for the purpose of crooked betting endeavors. The fact is that boxing more than any other sport has lost much viewership throughout the years from people who think that boxing is often fixed. That is why it is imperative for fans and casual viewers to come to the realization that this fight will not happen and despite its appeal, boxing will go on and talents of the likes of Guillermo Rigondeaux and Juan Manuel Lopez among others will provide the boxing world with talent that will meet or exceed the superpowers that are Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather.
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