By Giancarlo Malinconico: As Floyd “Money” Mayweather sat ringside with Don King in St. Louis for the Devon Alexander-Andriy Kotelnik bout, when the cameras focused-in, you could hear the fans were not chanting “Money” or Floyd, but rather they were haunting Floyd with chants for Manny “Pac Man” Pacquiao.
As I have said, Mayweather can retire, but he will be considered just another fighter to retire undefeated who did not face the best competition of his era. Of the only three Hall-of-Famers Floyd has faced, all were in their mid 30s and above and past their prime: Oscar De La Hoya, Juan Manuel Marquez (who Floyd weighed in two pounds over the limit against), and Shane Mosley (who was 38). (Besides, Mayweather received a gift decision against Jose Luis Castillo in their first bout as well.)
Meanwhile, Manny Pacquiao, ever since finally fighting at his proper weight level 140-147 has appeared unbeatable. Pacquiao dominated the De La Hoya who competed with Mayweather enough to earn a split decision, which has tarnished Mayweather’s undefeated record because at least one judge disagrees. Pacquiao also beat out Mayweather for the Fighter-of-Decade Award, which further diminishes the claim that Mayweather is (and was) the best of his era.
Mayweather will be remembered as the fighter who ducked Pacquiao more so than anything else that he has done in his career because there has never been a figher who has been considered the greatest-of-all-time who has ducked the simolutaneous reigning Pound-for-Pound King and Fighter-of-the-Decade Award winner. Mayweather has never requested random blood testing for any other bout besides the Pacquiao bout, and when Manny agreed to the 14-day cut off point that Floyd first agreed upon in early 2010, a scheme was cooked up to pretend Mayweather didn’t even negotiate with Pacquiao. Besides, Mayweather saying he did not negotiate with Pacquiao is the worst public relations move yet because it seemed as though he had no desire to face the best fighter of his era.
Unfortunately for Floyd, if he does not face Pacquiao in the near future, he will remembered more for ducking the Pac Man than he will for any of his decent accomplishments in the ring. For a fighter who claims he is the greatest-of-all-time, it is a paradox that he is avoiding the one fight that could at least lay the foundation to grant any sort of legitimacy to the claim.
My guess is that Floyd will make up an excuse, whether it be the purse-split, random blood testing, his Uncle Roger’s trial (which has been delayed, and could have allowed Roger to train Floyd for Pacquiao in November) for avoiding a Pacquiao clash to save face, and Floyd will pay Don King to continue to promote that excuse rather than the fight.
(Contact this writer @ GNMalinconico@aol.com or GiancarloNM@aol.com.)
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