By Augie Cruz: I still remember the days when boxers in their prime and most times undefeated wanted and pushed to fight the other boxers considered the best or ranked at the top of the sport. Don’t get me wrong, it still happens today but very seldom, some examples; recently Miguel Cotto was offered upwards of $10 million to take on Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and although I still think that fight will eventually take place and it will be exciting and very competitive, Cotto decided to go for glory and the history books by accepting a fight with tougher fighter in Sergio Martinez for much less money.
Augie Cruz
Mayweather acknowledges Pacquiao’s greatness by not fighting him
By Augie Cruz: A lot has been said and discussed about the potential super fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao but very little has been accomplished. Furthermore, it seems that the legion of fans that follow Mayweather are against such fight instead of supporting it. Why is that? Well, I think I can put my 2 cents as to why. In 2008, the casual boxing fan got exposed probably for the first time to Pacquiao. They saw the little man send Oscar De La Hoya into retirement and fell in love with his relentless and ferocious attack which is something boxing had been lacking for some time.
They admired a man that was very dominant but vulnerable at the same time and most if not all can associate with that. Now, from 2007 until 2009, the #1 pound-for-pound fighter (Mayweather) was retired. Some say because there were no opponents left and some say because he wanted to avoid certain fighters (Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito, Paul Williams, etc…).