Tomorrow should have been the day that boxing won over the doubters. The day when the two greatest boxers of their generation met in the ring in the richest bout in history. But the bout that was supposedly too big not to happen, is not taking place. Not yet, anyway.
Instead of Floyd Mayweather Jr versus Manny Pacquiao, on Saturday the Filipino will defend his WBO welterweight title against Joshua Clottey, of Ghana, at the Cowboys Stadium, Dallas, while Mayweather challenges Shane Mosley for the WBA title in Las Vegas on May 1. Two cracking contests in normal circumstances, but two that no one really wanted.
Negotiations for Mayweather-Pacquiao collapsed amid much recrimination early in the new year over Mayweather’s demands for random blood-testing. The hope is still that these bouts will simply be a tasty hors d’oeuvre to a feast to be held in the autumn, the fear is that fans are just being fed the leftovers.
When he retired in 2007 after knocking out Ricky Hatton, Mayweather was spoken about alongside the likes of Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali. But far from enhancing his legacy, the one-sided beating he handed Juan-Manuel M?rquez in his return last September has gained him a reputation as a bit of a bully. Related Links Pacquiao wins status as lord of the rings Pacquiao v Mayweather a must-see Mayweather strikes a blow for greatness
Certainly it is difficult to marry up Mayweather, the world star who brought traffic to a standstill in East London last year when thousands turned up to watch him work out, with the insular American who supposedly refused to box Pacquiao outside his home city of Las Vegas.
Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, had tabled an opening bid of $25 million (now about ?16.5 million) to host Mayweather-Pacquiao in his team’s new stadium, but Mayweather said no. He wanted the fight on his terms. So when Mayweather wanted random blood-testing rather than the regular stipulation for urine testing, Pacquiao’s side would not budge.
It is difficult to know whether Mayweather’s demands were born out of a genuine belief that Pacquiao could be flaunting the rules or whether he was simply trying to make his opponent dance to his tune. It is unlikely that he believed that his demands would lead to the bout being scrapped. But lines in the sand were drawn and neither side was about to blink.
When they ended up in mediation, the only matter up for debate was at what point before the bout blood-testing would cease. Mayweather offered 14 days, Pacquiao insisted on 24. So the bout was lost over a matter of ten days. Considering that Mayweather expects to make about $10 million from his bout with Mosley, about a quarter of the amount he would have expected from boxing Pacquiao, that works out as $3 million a day. For a man as seemingly obsessed with money as Mayweather, that has got to hurt.
There were no winners from the failed negotiations, but Bob Arum, whose Top Rank organisation promotes Pacquiao, will certainly be the happier.
Saturday’s bout is likely to be a 45,000 sell-out, a remarkable figure for two foreign boxers in Texas. And it looks set to sweep in an era of huge outdoor bouts in the United States.
Arum is close to finalising arrangements for Yuri Foreman, a New York-based Israeli, to defend his WBA light-middleweight title against Miguel Cotto at the new Yankee Stadium in New York. The old stadium hosted such greats as Sugar Ray Robinson and the famed Joe Louis-Max Schmeling rematch in an era long before large indoor arenas or Las Vegas site fees.
There has reportedly been interest in staging boxing from American football stadiums in New Orleans and Atlanta, as well as the future home of the New York Giants.
Both sides have been doing their best to sell what is on offer. Mayweather went as far as having a scuffle with Mosley for the cameras at one stop on their media tour of the US last week.
Certainly Clottey and Mosley are not without a chance, but both are big outsiders. Perhaps the best news for the many hoping for an autumn superbout is Pacquiao’s insistence that he will continue boxing even if he is successful in elections for the Filipino congress in May.
Yet among all the questions for the pair over the coming days and weeks, there still has not been a reasonable answer to two. Why did Pacquiao not just agree to the tests and why was Mayweather so bothered, when he is willing to face Mosley?
And do the pair really realise, or care, about the damage they could do to each other by not boxing. Robinson needed LaMotta, Ali needed Frazier. Mayweather needs Pacquiao and vice versa.
