By Edgar Solorzano: The sport of boxing is a strange environment with bad judges, one sided fights, and rivalries. A business with powerful men that are able to conquer the jab with the power of the pen. Boxing is not what it used to be, the science and talent is present, but the politics are hiding it.
One of the many reasons why the Mayweather-Pacquiao battle is five years too late is due to the power of the politics in the sport of boxing. Selfish negotiations are hurting the sport more than a professional undefeated record.
Before breaking down the fight realistically from a business point of view, fight-fans first must be familiar with what the A-side and B-side mean in the sport of boxing. The A-side is the fighter in charge; they have the right to pick the size of the ring, gloves, weight, and even request a referee they believe is good. These are things that help fighters win fights; talent alone can’t keep a fighter undefeated.
If that statement were false, then Sugar Ray Leonard, Muhammad Ali, and Sugar Ray Robinson would have retired undefeated. A fighter must be sharp with negotiations in order to continue to stay relevant. The A-side also gets the majority of the money. That is why Floyd Mayweather makes over forty million dollars per fight. Sharp negotiations made him rich, not his legacy.
Now, the B-side is basically the fighter who is investing low money and a loss for a legacy. They don’t get to choose what weight to fight at, size of gloves, or how much money they get. The B-side takes a bad deal hoping they will be victorious and become the A-side one-day. Marcos Maidana is an example of being the B-side, getting a guaranteed 3 million dollars when Floyd had a guaranteed 32 million dollars. Maidana had no choice but to accept the money and hope to defeat Floyd, the shot at getting the A-side title is far more valuable than money.
Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather have always been the A-side, that is the main reason why the fight never happened and never will. In 2009, Mayweather wanted to be the A-side when Manny Pacquiao was clearly at his best, coming off an 8th round TKO victory over Oscar De La Hoya, and a 2nd round historic knockout over England’s Ricky Hatton. These were two fighters that gave Floyd Mayweather a tough fight; those fights were the start of the fire that has burnt the sport of boxing to shame. The fight-fans began asking and questioning if Pacquiao could perhaps do the same to the undefeated defensive star. Floyd Mayweather was coming off a 2-year layoff, defeating Juan Manuel Marquez by decision. Mayweather came in 2-pounds overweight against Marquez, a fighter who never fought above 135 lbs. and had fought at 130 lbs. as recent as March 2008. It is quite difficult to argue that Floyd Mayweather was the A-side in 2009. Manny Pacquiao had every right to call the shots, and he never dictated the terms to a point that was not fair for both fighters. It was the other way around; the B-side was trying to dictate terms. “We’ll fight whoever we negotiate with the best. If Floyd wants a 65/35 split, he’s not going to get that,” Roach stressed back in 2009 to the lasvegassun.com. “We’ll take the best deal that Bob negotiates for, but personally, I want Mayweather.” Pacquiao was willing to do a 50/50 split. Floyd Mayweather’s pride ruined the chances of the fight happening, asking for more money, 60-40 split. Realistically, Floyd Mayweather did not deserve a 60-40 split; Pacquiao’s camp offered that the winner should take the 60-40 split. Mayweather’s team refused.
One thing that must be clear for the fight-fans, neither fighter is scared of one another. In boxing, fighters fear contracts more than the opponent they are fighting in the ring. For example, look at Andre Ward who refuses to fight because of the bad contract he is in. He has no choice but to fight to make a living, however; his pride is keeping him from fighting in the ring. Ward has been inactive for a whole year due to the politics in the sport. Floyd Mayweather has never been scared of Pacquiao, he has every tool to defeat the Filipino super-star by unanimous decision. It’s not Pacquiao’s victories that hurt the chances of the mega-fight happening, it’s Mayweather’s pride of being treated less than a super-star. Even If he wasn’t the A-side in 2009, his pride got him out of a potential fight that could have made his legacy greater than fighting a Juan Manuel Marquez who was fighting at light-weight. This wasn’t Al Haymons, Bob Arums, Oscar De La Hoya, or Leonard Ellerbe’s fault, in 2009, it was Floyd Mayweather who dictated negotiations and ruined the chance of the fight happening when he was the B-side. The steroids accusations and blood test were not the problem; it was the money split Mayweather wanted.
“Usually, when there’s this much money involved, they find a way to split it up,” Merchant stressed back in 2010 to the nytimes.com. “But that’s never been an issue here. The appearance is that Pacquiao agreed to virtually all of Mayweather’s demands, and Mayweather couldn’t take yes for an answer.”
The mega-fight once looked close to being a done deal back in 2011, the fight-fans were fooled and the fight looked like it was finally going to take place at the MGM Grand. May 5, 2012, was the date the fight was supposed to take place, third attempt and it failed. History is repeating itself, 2015, Mayweather’s team is coming out finally calling out Pacquiao and saying they want the fight already. The same thing happened in 2011, and it failed. The fight-fans were fooled and are still being fooled by these two camps.
“It’s great to hear that they are now ready to take the same USADA random blood and urine tests that Floyd, Shane Mosley and Victor Ortiz have already taken. This is great for the sport of boxing and I commend Manny Pacquiao for stepping up to the plate,” Leonard Ellerbe told Fighthype back in 2011.
It is clear that Floyd Mayweather is now the A-side and Manny Pacquiao is the B-side. That is the truth, and it should be respected. Floyd is still undefeated and has been impressive. Manny Pacquiao has been knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez, lost to Timothy Bradley, and is now fighting in China to generate more money. The tables have turned, but the politics remain the same. Money is what’s hurting this fight, with Pacquiao being the B-side; the chances of the mega-fight taking place are just as negative as in 2009. Now it’s team Pacquiao’s pride that will ruin the chances of the fight happening, not Floyd. The same reason Floyd Mayweather did not fight Manny back in 2009-2011, will be the same reason why Manny Pacquiao won’t fight Mayweather in 2015. If Pacquiao truly wanted the fight now, he would risk being the B-side to get a shot at defeating Floyd Mayweather like Marcos Maidana did. These two are not afraid of each-other, it does not matter how humble people think Pacquiao is, he is not humble enough to take his highest paycheck knowing Floyd will get double if not triple the amount. Money brings the worst out of people, and it is currently testing Manny Pacquiao’s identity and view on money.
Floyd Mayweather has the right to call the shots now; Manny Pacquiao and his promoter Bob Arum have no choice but to accept it. If Pacquiao was still the same fighter from 2009, then one could argue that both fighters deserve a 50-50 split, however; the truth is Pacquiao has lost twice and his teams pride will hurt the chances of the fight happening in 2015,2016, and 2017. The fight is dead, money killed it; money killed what could have been a historic fight in the sport of boxing.
While there are many unanswered questions and many people to blame for the fight not happening, Mayweather and Pacquiao are both equally guilty for the fight failing more than three times. The pride of these two well-respected champions hurt the sport more than their legacies. Both fighters are talented and special in their own ways, but pride and money will always be the reason why this fight will continue to fail.
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