By Miguel Alejandro Lopez: Floyd Mayweather Jr. (44-0), currently considered as boxing’s pound for pound best in the world, has changed his mind (yet again) regarding a possible clash with Filipino boxing star Manny Pacquiao (54-5-2). It will be remembered that not too long ago, Mayweather gave Pacquiao a condition for the fight to happen — the Filipino should leave Top Rank Promotions and join Mayweather’s promotional outfit.
In a recent interview with Mlive.com, however, Mayweather took back his words and said “He’s [Pacquiao] not going to get a chance to fight me. I was feeling that way weeks ago. Now, I’m feeling like I wouldn’t even give him a chance. He had a chance, he blew it, so that’s what it is.”
Mayweather also admitted he contradicted himself.
The thing with fighting Pacquiao is that there will always be a reason for not making the fight happen. The most recent reason used for not fighting Pacquiao is his KO defeat. Mayweather claims that Pac is a has-been whose career is over. The boxer from Grand Rapids, Michigan claims that there is no glory in fighting a guy who has lost a total of five fights in his career, and who has recently registered a loss. But look at the people that Mayweather fought in the past. He fought Gatti when Gatti already had 6 losses. He fought Zab Judah after Judah lost to Carlos Baldomir. He even fought Mosley when Mosley already had 8 losses or something. So the argument that Pacquiao is no longer a viable opponent because he lost some fights is really not acceptable. Next, Mayweather will probably fight Amir Khan who has already been knocked out by Danny Garcia and who has never really been considered an elite fighter.
Floyd thinks that Pacquiao blew his chance because in the past Floyd called Manny on the phone and gave an insulting offer of $40 Million with no PPV share. He also wanted Manny to bypass Top Rank and accept wire transfer money within 48 hours. Manny is a Top Rank guy and accepting wire transfer from Mayweather as advanced payment for a fight can be considered a breach of contract for Pac, which is why the congressman refused. It’s clear Mayweather needs some education about legal issues.
Another reason always cited by Mayweather for not fighting Pacquiao is that Pacquiao makes less money than him. Mayweather thinks that Pacquiao has no fan base whatsoever, and that Floyd makes more PPV revenue, hence he won’t fight Pacquiao. If this were true, then why did Floyd fight Victor Ortiz? He even fought Robert Guerrero who is a virtual unknown to mainstream boxing fans. It seems that Floyd will continue to fight these low PPV fighters but will never slug it out with Asia’s biggest PPV star (because he simply doesn’t bring enough revenue).
Floyd also thinks that Pacquiao is “easy work”, hence there is no need for a fight. If Floyd beat Marquez and Marquez beat Pacquiao, then Floyd will beat Pacquiao, right? If this were true, then why did Frazier beat Ali, Ali beat Foreman, but Foreman beat Frazier? It’s because styles makes fights. You can’t claim a victory over someone unless you fought him in the ring and actually win.
It’s getting embarrassing because pretty soon Floyd will start running out of reasons to not fight Pacquiao. It will surely get to a point where Floyd will publicly declare his irrational fear of losing to Pacquiao. He will probably make the confession sometime before his 30-month contract with Showtime is over. Keep your eyes glued.
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