Each Super Fight is its own unique drama, composed of a unique set of factors, circumstances and elements. Manny Paquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather is an original clash of titans which, though it is unique and special, it does have parallels with other historical boxing events.
The good guy vs. the villain angle is the most obvious characteristic about the May 2 Super Fight, and it compares to several other fights in history. The first and foremost example of good vs. bad which comes to mind is Lewis vs. Tyson in 2002, also Ali vs. Foreman in 1974 and Clay vs. Liston in 1964.
Floyd clearly is the villain of this boxing drama and the negativity of the role could adversely effect his performance on May 2.
This is an excerpt from my book “Heavyweight Armageddon” about the Lewis-Tyson fight, with insights from George Foreman and Sonny Liston:
“When I won the championship from Patterson, everyone acted like I stole it,” Liston told Foreman, who included the conversation in his autobiography BY GEORGE. “What are you doing as Heavyweight champion? What’s someone like you doing with the belt? When I was champ I used to hear people say I didn’t deserve the title. Then when I lost to Clay, the same people told men I should have won. I know I should have won. I should have. I could have. But they acted like they didn’t want me to.” Foreman wrote: “I interpreted Sonny’s words as a sort of admission that he’d unconsciously sacrificed his title. To satisfy the fans who said he was unworthy or undeserving.”
When Foreman lost to Ali in Africa, the same theory seemed to be at play. The entire continent seemed to be in favor of Ali. They even chanted in unison: “Ali Bomaye. Ali Bomaye (Ali kill him!)” All this united energy for Ali and against Foreman may have had a telepathic impact on the outcome of their histroic match in 1974. Maybe Foreman did subliminally sacrifice his title to appease the will of the world…
Almost certainly, the overwhelming crowd support will be in favor of Pacquiao the week of May 2 and you have to wonder how this negative energy will affect Mayweather, who is a sensitive human being, beneath the cocky, arrogant facade.
Another aspect of this fight, which parallels to other historical fights is that one fighter, Mayweather has been pressured and forced to do this fight, after showing much reluctance and even fear of risking his health. There are many other examples of major fights where one combatant showed hesitation and reluctance but when he was finally pressured into the fight he wanted to avoid, he lost. Some examples…Roy Jones vs. Antonio Tarver. Mike Tyson vs. Lennox Lewis. Oscar De La Hoya vs. Bernard Hopkins. Tommy Burns vs. Jack Johnson. Floyd Patterson vs. Sonny Liston. Evander Holyfield vs. Lennox Lewis.
Mayweather has shown so much aversion, reluctance and fear of facing Pacquiao, that, if you go by historical examples, he should have very little chance of winning on May 2. True great champions rarely if ever, show as much fear, reluctance and excuse-making as Mayweather has shown to Manny Pacquiao.
But as we know, boxing is the theater of the unexpected, and anything can happen. Bernard Hopkins had 99% of Madison Square Garden rooting against him vs. Felix Trinidad in 2001. Oliver McCall had perhaps not one single supporter outside his own corner, the night he knocked out Lennox Lewis in London in 1994. Orzubek Nazarov came all the way from Russia and knocked out Joey Gamache in his home state of Maine.
Boxing is a mysterious business and despite an excess of clues and evidence, such a silly little irrelevant thing as a dream can alter the outcome of a fight.
LeRoy Neiman told me about a story about Tom “The Bomb” Bethea who was getting ready to fight for the light heavyweight title. Bethea was confident and in top shape but the week of the fight he had a terrible dream that he got knocked out by the champ. The devastated Bethea told his manager Gil Clancy about the dream and was so disturbed by the nightmare that he saw, he could not be convinced to just forget about his silly, meaningless dream. Bethea, of course, paralyzed by his own subconscious vision of being knocked out, was indeed knocked out in the actual fight in New York City.
Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather are two months away from facing each other on May 2 in the biggest fight in boxing history. Perhaps they both know already what their destinies are fated to be.
