By Sam Owens: Floyd Mayweather Jr (41-0, 25 KO’s), Manny Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KO’s). The most highly anticipated match up so far this century. The mouth watering boxing skills possessed by Mayweather, built together of his electrifying hand speed, pin point precision and a water tight defence, against the ferociously fast Pacquiao, armed with relentless energy and an arsenal that boasts hands quick as lightening and fists with the roar of thunder.
This fight will be worth every word of hype that can be uttered. Any real boxing fan, the world over, knows this is the fight that needs to happen.
Then again there is the matter of the drugs testing issue and all of the controversial questions that this issue arises about both of the fighters. So let’s clear up these arguments first and foremost.
Some recent articles seemingly suggest Floyd cherry picks his opponents and dodges those dangerous fights. Well for one, I believe that the unbeaten former pound for pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr, who has only touched the canvas once (and that being due to a hand injury) in a 41 fight professional career, is afraid of any welterweight that has ever walked the planet. The fact that he has fought and beaten thirteen title holders in his career, a career that includes wins over the likes of Arturo Gatti, Zab Judah, Oscar De La Hoya and has more recently stopped the unbeaten light welterweight champion Ricky Hatton and then schooled over 12 rounds the dangerous Juan Manuel Marquez and ‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley, is evidence that further supports my argument that Floyd does not cherry pick or avoid any fighters.
The argument against Manny Pacquiao and his trainer Freddie Roach seems to be that they tactically approach fighters, perhaps as to fighting them in lower stages of their careers.
This may be suggested as the ‘Pac Man’ fought two opponents that Mayweather had already beaten within recent years. The first opponent in question would be ‘The Golden Boy’ Oscar De La Hoya. At the time Mayweather and De La Hoya fought though, Manny and Oscar were fighting at super feather weight and light middleweight respectively, and so at the time were not considered possible match ups when the fight went ahead. When that Mayweather Versus De La Hoya fight did happen, Floyd won by a controversial split decision, whereas Pacquiao went on to fight Oscar and beat on him so badly that Oscars corner had to throw in the towel in the eighth. The second opponent mentioned is Ricky ‘The Hitman’ Hatton. Once again Mayweathers opponent Hatton and Manny Pacquiao were weights apart and after Mayweathers impressive tenth round stoppage of Hatton, the ‘Hitman’ went on to lose for only the second time in his career and for the first and only time in his favoured light welterweight division, against an on form Manny Pacquiao who won the bout with a crushing second round knock out. These two examples of opponents are not to show how Pacquiao appeared to fair better against former Mayweather opponents, as each Mayweather and Pacquiao have two opposing styles, but is rather to show how Manny rose to the occasion when he did fight previous Mayweather opponents, as these performances would clearly be compared to Floyds efforts against the same fighters. Pacquiao himself has had twelve fights against title holders, with wins over boxing greats such as Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Juan Manuel Marquez (of whom Pacquiao fought before Mayweather had) and taught Miguel Cotto a lesson in boxing that he will never forget. These fights prove to me that this fighter and his trainer do not tactically choose their fights.
So it appears evident to me that the issue of drugs testing is not that of cherry picking opponents or of avoidance tactics but is merely for professional reasoning. After all, it is understandable that Mayweathers camp have reasons to believe that Pacquiao may take sports enhancing drugs as Manny has been a champion at so many as seven different weight classes. On the other hand it is understandable that Pacquiao does not want his blood to be withdrawn in such close proximity to the fight as he believes a withdrawal of blood had affected his performance in a previous fight. So in my eyes the arguments over the drugs testing are for professional reasons only.
Now that all of the arguments over drugs testing are pushed aside we come to my main concern. For the sakes of the legacies of both Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao and for the sport of boxing, this clash needs to go ahead now. For if the two were never to meet in the ring, however far each fighter went in their careers, questions would forever arise: Would Floyd of finally lost that 0 record he’s been defending? Would Pacquiao have remained the pound for pound number 1? Who was the best fighter of their generation? The world waited for these questions to be answered through a break down in the original fight deal, through two displays of complete dominance in Mayweather v Mosley and Pacquiao v Clottey that built the anticipation of the match-up to a climax. All the rest of the possible opponents in and around the welterweight division are either too inexperienced for a Mayweather or Pacquiao fight, such as Amir Kahn or Andre Berto, or haven’t had enough big fights to reward such a challenge, which includes the likes of Paul Williams and Devon Alexander. Other contenders and former welterweight kings in Shane Mosley, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto have been eliminated by one or the other of Mayweather and the ‘Pac Man’, or by both in Hatton’s case. A Pacquiao v Cotto rematch has been suggested, I don’t doubt Cotto as a fighter and have the utmost respect for him, but after how easily Pacquiao dealt with him in the first fight I believe for now all other suggestions of possible match ups should be left aside until after maximum effort has been put in to bringing Floyd and Pacquiao in to the same ring. Between Floyd and Manny they have also beaten legends of the division such as Gatti, Judah, De La Hoya, Jose Luis Castillo and effectively retired the majority of these fighters. All of these opponents suggested have either been beaten by ‘Pretty Boy Floyd’ or the ‘Pac Man’or are really out of the question, leaving just these two boxing greats to go toe to toe.
Each fighter needs a landmark, defining fight in their career, each boxing era needs a landmark, defining fight to grace the history books and to live on in the memories of fight fans. Just as Jake Lammota v ‘Sugar’ Ray Robinson, just as ‘Sugar’ Ray Leonard v Roberto Duran and just as ‘The Greatest’ Muhammed Ali v ‘Smokin’ Joe Frazier lit up the sport and left their marks on boxing history, making it the sweet science that we know today.
It is time for all of the talking to stop and for the fight, winner takes all.
Floyd Mayweather Jr, Manny Pacquiao. The fight to define an era.
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