Mayweather unable to escape shadow of Pacquiao

By Boxing News - 06/29/2011 - Comments

Image: Mayweather unable to escape shadow of PacquiaoBy John F. McKenna (McJack): Try as he may, Floyd Mayweather (41-0, 25 KO’s) cannot escape the ever growing shadow of Manny Pacquiao (53-3-2, 38 KO’s). The two have not been able to come to terms for the past couple of years for the richest fight in boxing.

The animosity between the two got to the point that Manny Pacquiao filed a defamation law suit against Floyd Mayweather over allegations that “Pacman” has achieved his success as a fighter by using performance enhanced drugs, or PEDS.

It is not surprising then that under these circumstances Mayweather spent a lot of time answering questions about Manny Pacquiao at the news conference to hype his fight with welterweight champion Victor Ortiz (29-2-2, 22 KO’s). The reporters just would not leave it alone. Mayweather and Ortiz will square off on September 17 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, but the fight boxing fans really want to see is not happening now and may never happen.

Before he spoke at a packed house in Hudson Theater in Manhattan, Floyd “Money” Mayweather heard shouts from fans in the audience, “We want Pacquiao!”

Mayweather was quoted in USA Today as saying : “I never said Pacquiao was cheating. I just said ‘Me and everybody I fight must take the test. If you beat me I want you to earn it. I don’t want anything to be tainted. I don’t want to say ‘He beat because of this or that.’ Just take the test.”

Mayweather has been criticized by some who feel he is ducking Pacquiao and is using the drug testing issue as a phony excuse not to fight him. Pacquiao has been fighting at an extraordinary level for a number of years. His high energy, speed and the pace at which he fights has allowed him to steamroll over his opposition. The only two fighters who fight at the same lever of excellence are Mayweather and Pacquiao.

Floyd noted that his career is winding down and at the age of 34 he may not have too many more fights, but he added that he would like at some point to fight Pacquiao.

When he steps into the ring in September against Ortiz, it will have been 16 months since Floyd’s last fight when he defeated Mosley in May 2010.

Mayweather presently is beset by numerous legal woes in addition to the defamation lawsuit brought against him by Pacquiao. One of those charges involves the mother of his children. Another is a lawsuit brought against him by a nightclub bouncer who alleges that he was attacked and injured by Floyd’s bodyguards after receiving a signal to do so

Mayweather would not discuss his legal problems except to say “Young, black and rich you go through things. But I am a strong individual, and I can survive anything.”



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