Mayweather and Pacquiao – The two hesitant fighters

By Boxing News - 06/14/2010 - Comments

By Babatis Banda: As good as they may be or as hyped as they may be, these are two popular but hesitant boxers of the modern times. Whichever way you may want to look at it, or whoever you are siding with, there are questions on both sides that may never have satisfying answers. These two fighters – Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao – have polarized the boxing fans, writers, analysts and commentators alike, for the past number of months.

For a number of years, Mayweather dominated as the P4P fighter and it was clear, he was above the rest. He went into a self imposed retirement sighting luck of challenge. In his absence, Pacquiao rightfully assumed the mythical P4P title by not only beating, but humiliating and disfiguring the big names in the sport. David Diaz, Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto, Ricky Hatton were all convincingly beaten. This chain of events resulted into Floyd calling-off his retirement and announcing his return.

Our understanding, at least for most fans, was that the reason for Mayweather’s return was to challenge Pacquiao. Others thought it was just out of envy, while others thought it was for monetary reasons as the global financial situation had taken a toll on his balance sheet. Whatever was the reason, it may just be another point of discussion but one certain factor was that Pacman had not only won against the big names, he had humiliated them into submission. This resulted into some questioning of how Pacquiao could achieve a huge success against the bigger fighters considering he is a small framed man and who moved up the divisions quickly and still carried his punching power with devastating effect. It may have started with the Mayweather, but it soon grew like bush fire when Pacquiao refused a request for the Olympic type of testing and to make matters worse, Pacquiao was not giving a coherent answer for the refusal.

Why then did Mayweather put conditions to fight Pacquiao when he had never done so with other fighters? Why did he not ask his supporting bouts to undertake the tests as well? We may not have all the convincing answers but we can attempt to answer some. Of cause, drug testing is expensive and may not be conducted on every boxing bout, but the Pacquiao/Mayweather bout is an outstanding, once in a lifetime bout. If we agree that the listed fighters were not only beaten, but were actually battered, then why not have the concern considering that Pacquiao was a smaller fighter moving up the Divisions? Can we ask Mayweather to agree to fight Pacquiao without testing and conduct the tests right after the fight? I would not see the reasoning here. If the damage would have been done due to substance abuse, then what would the tests be there for? Would it not be the same with saying Sugar Shane Mosley should have fought Antonio Margarito first and then ask for the scrutiny of the wrappings after the fight?

Having said all this, Floyd must not be allowed to blackmail Pacquiao into testing as if Manny had been caught cheating or at least, has a history of cheating . It must never look like Pacquiao has no leverage in the negotiations because Pacquiao has earned this status, at least in the eyes of many. For now, both camps have concerns which must be resolved and agreed upon by striking a common ground through negotiations.

Why are these two fighters hesitant? If the outcome of this bout was as straight forward as the answer to 5+5, they would have fought a longtime ago. The truth is Mayweather has question marks especially the damage trail Pacquiao has left behind. Pacquiao also knows that Mayweather is not Cotto, Hatton or De La Hoya. Mayweather knows he will be hit at some point and it might be confusing and telling, and Manny knows he may be attending a boxing lesson. They are not just hesitant fighters, but hesitant for a reason!

There is one factor though…a factor many tend to ignore. Yes! The money involved in this bout. There are people in the fore front, and those that operate from behind the curtains that will never let this money go through their fingers. Yes, none of the two fighters can let this kind of money slip through their fingers, after all, it is MONEY they risk their lives for…forget about pleasing who and who, it is the livelihood from the sport that makes them tick.



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