By Dave Lahr: With a number of talented opponents to choose from, Manny Pacquiao is being put in Antonio Margarito in his next fight on November 13th. While I think Margarito was a good fighter a couple of years ago, he doesn’t look nearly as dangerous a threat as he used to. Why then is Pacquiao being matched against Margarito, who was stopped last year by Shane Mosley rather than fighters like Timothy Bradley, Sergio Martinez, Paul Williams, Alfredo Angulo, Andre Berto, Mosley and Devon Alexander? Boxing fans already saw Pacquiao fight Joshua Clottey in his last fight. I’m sorry, but I didn’t understand that fight at all.
Yes, Clottey fights for the same promotional company as Pacquiao, but beyond that I didn’t see the point of that fight. Clottey wasn’t a popular fighter and clearly wasn’t considered to be the best in the welterweight division at the time that Pacquiao fought him. Heck, Clottey was coming off of a 12 round decision loss to Miguel Cotto at the time Pacquiao fought him. That alone would seem reason enough for Pacquiao not to fight him. But in looking at Pacquiao’s recent opponents, it just looks like he’s being put in winnable fights rather than really being tested by having him put with the best guys in each weight class.
Ricky Hatton was, for a short period of time, considered to be the best fighter in the light welterweight division. However, by the time Pacquiao fought Hatton last year in May, I don’t know too many people who felt that Hatton was the best light welterweight anymore. He the most popular, yeah, but not the really the best anymore, at least the way I see it. By last year, Timothy Bradley, Devon Alexander and Marcos Maidana had already emerged as the top guys in the light welterweight division. Those should have been the fighters that Pacquiao fought, not Hatton, who had been stopped by Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2007 and had been staggered a couple of times in his next fight against Juan Lazcano. And choosing Cotto to fight didn’t seem like the best fight either for Pacquiao. Cotto had already been beaten up by Margarito in 2008, and had looked horrible in barely beating Clottey by a 12 round split decision last year.
If Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum isn’t able to put together a fight with Mayweather next year, who will Pacquiao be fighting then? I already know that he’ll be fighting Cotto in a rematch that doesn’t seem to have any real point other than being a stay busy fight. But who will Pacquiao fight after that, if not Mayweather? Will it be Paul Williams, Bradley, Alexander, Berto, Angulo, Sergio Martinez or Mosley? Or will be another fight against Margarito or a one against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. I see those easy fights for Pacquiao, and I guess he can fight them all over and over again while he waits on the Mayweather fight to be put together.
I see it as a waste of time. Pacquiao should just cut to the chase, accept a 60-40 deal with Mayweather, take the full random blood tests and skip all the lesser fights. Pacquiao isn’t going to be bringing in huge pay per view numbers in the Cotto, Margarito or Chavez fights and Mayweather probably isn’t going to change his mind about wanting to get a better cut of the revenue. He isn’t going to go for a 50-50 deal as long as he’s getting better PPV numbers than Pacquiao.
Comments are closed.