By Dave Lahr: I really want to give Manny Pacquiao a chance against Floyd Mayweather Jr. but the more and more I look at Pacquiao, and notice how short he is, and how limited his reach and defensive skills are, I just can’t see him ever beating the likes of Mayweather. I honestly think Pacquiao is a slaughter waiting to happen. It’s almost a good thing that the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight hasn’t happened yet, because it’s kept the Pacquiao mystique going a longer than it probably would have gone if Pacquiao had agreed to the blood testing and fought Mayweather in March instead of facing fellow Top Rank fighter Joshua Clottey.
At first, I thought, ‘What a waste of a fight that was.’ However, I’m now thinking that the Clotty was a good thing, because Pacquiao kept winning and didn’t have to fight Mayweather and face what I see as a major beating. And now that the two sides are once again trying to put together a fight, I’m thinking nothings’ changed from last time.
Pacquiao is still short with limited reach, and is still totally vulnerable on defense. I can’t see how he would have any chance whatsoever if the fight gets signed. I don’t think it will. Pacquiao probably won’t agree to something that Mayweather is asking and that will be it as far as the negotiations are concerned. Pacquiao will go his way and Mayweather will go off into the sunset, looking for glory against talented fighters like Sergio Martinez, Paul Williams and Andre Berto.
As for Pacquiao, I think Bob Arum will put him back in with Miguel Cotto in a needless rematch and the fight will likely bring in average pay per view numbers because fans likely won’t care to see another helping of Cotto-Pacquiao. Arum might get one last fight out of Pacquiao, and that probably be against Antonio Margarito in a Mexico. No one will likely care about either of those fights, because the one that boxing fans will have wanted to see is the Mayweather bout.
But one positive is that Pacquiao won’t have been beaten by Mayweather and he’ll be able to retire with his last fights coming against Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey, and Cotto again and then finally Antonio Margarito. I expect Pacquiao to beat all those guys, but I think he would be badly beaten if he were to have faced Mayweather.
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