You don?t kick dead horses. But this is not about dead horses. Nor is this a pathetic post mortem review.
Some will always criticize others for being Monday-morning-post-fight analysts. Trouble is, many still cannot move on (oh that worn out clich?) and are still in the denial stage.
Manny Pacquiao himself went through different stages of disbelief before accepting defeat. In an interview atop the ring after it was announced Floyd Mayweather Jr. won one of the ugliest and most overhyped boxing matches in recent years, Pacquiao said he thought he had won it. At the post-fight press conference later, he accepted that his best was not enough.
Indeed, Pacquiao lost the fight. But not in a manner that it took away what he has done and what he has become in boxing.
Fast forward to the injury.
Now that is something Pacquiao fans are finding comfort in after the defeat of their boxing idol.
But something was wrong about the injury or what the public did not know about it. Nobody reported about it. With all the media attention and with all the major networks and outlets keeping close watch, it was indeed a superb act for Team Pacquiao to be able to conceal it.
Either the media failed in its job or it chose to turn its back and pretended to know nothing. By opting not to publicly disclose the injury heading into the fight, however, Team Pacquiao has found sympathetic ears from disappointed boxing fans. But one cannot blame others for dismissing it as an alibi, one that leaves bad taste to the mouth. Pacquiao has certainly received flak for the non-disclosure. It did not help that he was made to explain it himself.
Floyd Mayweather Jr., left, hits Manny Pacquiao, from the Philippines, during their welterweight title fight on Saturday, May 2, 2015 in Las Vegas. Pic: AP.
Perennial bad guy Michael Koncz of Team Pacquiao later put the blame on himself for (not properly) filling up the form of the Nevada State Athletic Commission asking for medical issues that the Filipino boxer might have. Even trusted friend Buboy Fernandez jumped into the fray in admitting he pushed for the fight even if Pacquiao had already injured his shoulder.
Pacquiao is now being sued for false declaration. Nothing to worry about though. These suits will go nowhere.
Still, the Pacquiao debacle will go on. For all we know, all this post-fight drumbeating could be a calculated ploy to whet the appetite for a rematch. And it looks like there will be one next year. Top Rank?s Bob Arum, the consummate promoter and shrewd businessman that he is, believes a rematch could happen. And at the rate they are drumming up the shoulder injury of Pacquiao, they may get their wish.
?The fact that he (Mayweather) won the fight, what does that mean? The two of them together created such a bonanza ? numbers we?ve never seen before and without Manny who could Floyd create a bonanza like that with?? Arum was quoted as saying by boxing columnist Gareth Davies.
Mayweather himself has already said Pacquiao will get his rematch next year.
With the pay-per-view buys of the Mayweather-Pacquiao expected to break all records, the promoters and cable producers and distributors sure will be laughing their way to the bank with the gods of Las Vegas grinning inside their vaults.
Mayweather himself was handed a US$100 million check as partial payment for his workmanlike thrashing of Pacquiao.
The 8-division Filipino world boxing champion got his US$50 million guaranteed purse from Arum, again as partial payment.
With checks like those still to come, who wouldn?t want a redux?
