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Philippines, 17 Feb 2012 |
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THE PACQUIAO VS. MAYWEATHER FANTASY By Chito Yu Katangkatang PhilBoxing.com Thu, 03 Jun 2010  The greatness of a boxer is never measured by the number of fights he has won nor can he be marked as a failure because of the fights he has lost. A boxer is great because he fought the best fighters in his time and carried his heart in facing every challenge placed before him despite the risk of losing and staining his legacy in boxing history. Sugar Ray Robinson is considered by many as the greatest of all time, not because he was undefeated in his entire career but because he never refused to fight the best oppositions placed before him. He lost many times but those losses were overshadowed by his great victories against fellow hall of famers. Manny Pacquiao started as a one dimensional boxer who slugged and brawled his way into fame. People loved to watch the lanky kid from General Santos because he was a relentless aggressor who stalked his opponents until he lands his killer left and end the game in a KO. He was careless in his early years. He would compromise getting hit just to land the big punch on his next victim. He lost a couple of times. But it did not stop him from brawling his way into his first world championship belt. And as he gathered more belts along the way, Pacquiao has been evolving into a better specie of a boxer fight after fight. The Pacquiao evolution was accelerated when the Pacman crossed paths with Coach Freddie Roach. Roach brought the best out of the brawler Manny and transformed him into the most feared boxer of every division he enters. Floyd Mayweather was born with boxing gloves on his baby hands. He was surrounded by a boxer father, a champ uncle and had the boxing gym as his playground. Thus, becoming a boxer was inevitable for baby Floyd. And indeed he became one and a good one at that. Floyd’s natural talent brought him to the Olympics as an amateur and gave him his first world title as a super featherweight 17 fights after turning pro. And as Pretty Boy fought his way to the top, he evolved from a gifted boxer who loved his craft into a businessman who used his talents to get more money, thus eventually changing his monicker from Pretty Boy to Money. As Floyd’s career shone brighter, his ego grew immensely with his success. He believed that his undefeated record is what brings in the big money and should never be risked by fighting dangerous opponents. He became so obsessed with his zero loss that he would rather choose the lower risk higher reward kind of opposition instead of facing the best guys in his division. Time in his welterweight career came when there was no one left to fight but the most dangerous guys in the division. His cherry picking adventures could not go any further. Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito were waiting ahead of the road and there was no way for a u-turn. Afraid of losing, Floyd announced his retirement stating that he wanted to retire as the best since there was no longer any quality opposition for him to fight and that he had nothing more to prove. As an alternative, he joined Dancing with the Stars and tried out WWE by fighting The Big Show on his wrestling debut. Unpaid taxes and other financial issues forced Money to unretire and as a comeback fight cherry picked Juan Manuel Marquez as his opponent. The much bigger Floyd easily won but was never able to knock out the tiny Mexican. Pacquiao claimed the pound for pound throne after Mayweather’s fake retirement. He solidified his place at the top by beating Oscar De La Hoya and sending him into permanent retirement. He further shook the boxing world when he knocked out Ricky Hatton in the second round in what was considered by many as one of the most brutal knockouts in boxing history. After Hatton, Pacquiao took the biggest challenge in his career by fighting Miguel Cotto and beating the future hall of famer via TKO. Pacquiao called out Mayweather and with Floyd’s ego being touched, Money bluffed his way into accepting the challenge. Negotiations started and everything was settled except for the demand of Floyd’s camp to undergo the USADA random blood testing to ensure that Manny was clean from any Performance Enhancing Drug. Manny offered blood testing 24 days before the fight and another immediately after the fight but Floyd insisted otherwise. Negotiations failed. Pacman fought and beat Clottey while Floyd fought and beat Shane Mosley. Due to the non-stop clamor for the greatest fight in history to finally happen, both camps have again started the negotiations. This time both sides decided for a total news black out to avoid distractions from too much media hype until the deal is done. The latest buzz was that Pacquiao has agreed to the 14 day cut off for the blood sampling. The problem is that Floyd allegedly demands a 60-40 split on the purse in his favor and that bloods should be drawn anytime until the day before the fight. This being the case, it seems like the boxing fans’ dream fight will remain nothing but a dream. This leads to the simplest reality that we should accept. Floyd has been a coward ever since. Cotto was there but Floyd never fought him. Margarito was there but Money did not take the fight. Floyd moved up in weight to face Oscar de la Hoya but never dared to take the challenge of Paul Williams to fight either at 152 or at 147 lbs. Floyd is smart, he is aware that Pacquiao made him look inferior by beating De La Hoya via TKO when it took him a split decision to win. Money knew that Pacquiao knocked Hatton out in two rounds not at 147 but in his natural weight division of 140 lbs when it took him ten rounds to dispose the English brawler. Floyd knows that Pacquiao can crush his shoulders which he uses in his shoulder roll defense. Floyd knows that Manny has the power to knock him out silly and has the speed to catch up his running stints. Floyd Mayweather knows that Manny Pacquiao is tailor made to knock him out and is destined to make him taste his first loss. With Floyd Mayweather knowing all these, fighting Manny Pacquiao is the last thing in his mind. He will never ever run out of excuses to make it appear that it is Pacquiao who does not want to fight him. With these points taken into consideration, it seems that the Greatest Fight in History will remain in the dreams and wishes of boxing fans. But nothing is impossible in boxing. One thing can perhaps make this fight happen. It’s called Miracle. 
The author’s column “Bare Knuckle” is published every Thursday at the Negros Daily Bulletin. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Chito Yu Katangkatang. Recent PhilBoxing.com In-House articles: |
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