By John F. McKenna (McJack): Many boxing pundits and fans are puzzled as to why undefeated superstar WBA light middleweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (43-0, 26 KO’s) has been so quiet since he was released from the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas in early August.
Nobody thought that “Money May” would immediately step up and take on a top notch opponent after being incarcerated for two months. But neither did anyone think that Floyd would go into hibernation as he apparently has done for the past two and a half months.
Some diehard boxing enthusiasts were of the mindset that the long anticipated dream match between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and the other boxing superstar of this generation, Filipino icon and fighter of the decade Manny Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KO’s) would finally come to fruition.
In the past there were many roadblocks which prevented the Mayweather – Pacquiao fight from happening. And as is usually the case in major disputes there was enough blame to go around for everyone involved. Initially the big stumbling block was Pacquiao’s refusal to accept the Olympic style drug testing that Mayweather demanded. To be fair to Floyd he wants to have a level playing field for anyone he takes on in the ring. In light of the many recent instances in which fighters have tested positive for Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDS) Mayweathers demand does not seem to be at all unreasonable. After all a fighter puts himself at risk whenever he enters the ring. The risk is only magnified if your opponent has the advantage of using PEDS.
It took Pacquiao a significant amount of time to remove the biggest hurdle by finally agreeing to the random Olympic style drug testing that Mayweather demanded many months ago. Unfortunately there were more hurdles to overcome. The money split that each fighter was to receive for the Mega fight then became the chief stumbling block. Floyd as always was adamant that he would be calling the shots and that he deserved a much higher share of the revenue because of his past Pay Per View (PPV) performance.
Then Manny made the concession which many fans hoped would remove the money split hurdle by agreeing to take a much smaller cut of the revenue. But there was one more hurdle. Pacquiao had an ongoing defamation lawsuit against Mayweather. The reasoning by the Mayweather camp was how can we realistically negotiate a deal when the other party has a lawsuit against us?
But that obstacle too was removed when the Pacquiao and Mayweather camps settled the lawsuit. So it appears on the surface at least that all the major issues which have prevented the Mayweather – Pacquiao fight from happening have been settled.
Still there is no word from the Mayweather camp regarding what it would now take for Floyd to come to an agreement with the Pacquiao camp. The question many boxing observers are now asking is, why does the normally vocal Floyd Mayweather Jr. now have nothing to say? Are there other obstacles he will use to prevent the Mayweather – Pacquiao fight from happening? The ball is in Floyd’s court and the world is watching.
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