A Small Case of Bad Mayweather

It has been dubbed the fight that will save the sport of boxing. Long suffering due to the vicious antics and larger than life superstars we’ve seen in MMA and UFC, boxing has been up against the rings for a few years. Any fight that has truly been dubbed as “important” or “a must see” has swindled boxing connoisseurs out of a pay-per-view fee and precious moments of their life due to a quick knock out, a one-sided duel or a fight that ended controversially. We’ve gone from the days of talking about a fight everyone saw to a few people posting about how it was a rip-off. But even casual sports fan know that if Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. fought, as has been hinted at for years, it would attract national attention.

Recent actions might have made this on-and-off sports dream a reality. Mayweather Jr., sentenced to 90 days in jails for abuse of his ex-girlfriend in front of their two children, received an extension in his time as a free man due to his commitment to a fight on May 5 in Las Vegas, claiming that the $100 million dollars expected to pour into the economy would help the struggling city. The judge stayed his jail time until June 1, allowing Mayweather Jr. one more fight, and after tweeting a betting slip sharing his monetary victory in the BCS championship game, he had one more thing to say.

“Manny Pacquiao I’m calling you out,” Mayweather Jr. tweeted, “let’s fight May 5th and give the world what they want to see.”

Pacquiao has yet to respond, and seeing he hasn’t used his twitter account in as long as a month, it doesn’t appear he will. Yet we have been hearing a bit from Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, one of the heads of Pacquiao’s boxing team. It doesn’t look like Pacquiao wants to quite jump into the fight, and though the boxing fan populace might disagree with him, I’d tend to agree. A May 5th fight with Mayweather Jr. and Pacquiao is not in the best interest of boxing’s future, because it doesn’t look like it’ll give fans the match it deserves, and here’s why:

Manny is still healing: According to Arum, Manny is still healing from a previous fight. Arum believes that it’ll take until at least June for everything to properly heal. Arum has suggested even moving the match, saying, “June 9th is perfect. May 5th is out, that’s impossible”. Considering Pacquiao is in the Philippines resting, there’s really no sense in rushing him, but the jail sentence is what has put the time on the clock. This is the Pacquiao camps biggest issue, even offering to chip in to help pay for Mayweather’s legal costs to see if they could push the date back. There’s going to be some more controversy: Though both parties claim to be ready, there have been a lot of issues with these two camps in the past to prolong things, and the conditions are ripe for similar issues. Past interactions between these two have had Mayweather Jr. requiring Pacquiao to get an “olympic style blood test”, though he passed the first one, because Mayweather Jr. hinted the smaller fighter might be on something. Both accused the other of shying away from the fight, and it was called off. Now, there are much bigger issues at hand. Mayweather Jr. still has to be licensed to fight, and if the board of Nevada finds he’s unfit to because of his legal issues, audiences may get tired of the “almost a fight” song and dance. Also, there have been noted issues with the arena not being big enough and the split purse of the two promoters. What’s the rush?: I mentioned it before: Mayweather Jr. is going to jail. However, that’s not without saying that it’s going to be a long one. Floyd is sentenced to 90 days, but with good behavior could be out as early as mid-August. There’s not a lot that a May fight will accomplish that an October or November fight wouldn’t, but if both parties are rushed and don’t deliver, then what was the point of the rushing? This might not be the best match-up: Pacquiao and Mayweather Jr. have been eyeing a lot of other talent based off of weight class, and since they are at least ten pounds apart since their last respective weigh ins (at least), why try to force that weight loss or addition of muscle weight? It’s a timing issue, and if America wants to watch this fight so badly, they’ll surely watch the predecesor that’ll lead to it, especially if the two opponents see their respective victories. There’s no sense in depriving what’s sure to be huge purses from those respective fights beforehand. It might just not be good: As mentioned, these two men are amazing fighters, but if they do, god forbid, speed up this fight and their wounds heal quickly and they make weight and they agree on the arena AND the world sits quietly while they surely have one or two more squabbles and fight, what if the fight ends up not being up to par? Like most types of fighting, a quick knock out or an unfortunate injury sustained mid-fight can stop a bout before it’s really started. In reality, this is boxing’s last big chance to be significant before it’s written off completely by pay-per-view fight fans.

In reality, if this fight is done correctly, it can be one of the biggest paydays for the sport ever, both immediately and in the long term. But with many of the great heroes gone and a loss of interest in the new ones, Mayweather Jr. and Pacquiao stand as two of the only men who could put on a big name fight that could sweep the nation. If it comes down to a late bout knockout or a scorecard match, especially if it’s a good clean one, the sport is renewed. Yet there are just too many obstacles at the moment that keep it from being a good idea, and it might be better to wait a few extra months and iron that out before letting those two men go into the ring.


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