“I don’t hold that against Pacquiao”…”I have no dreams now”…”who out there can beat him”…all recent comments made by some of the biggest names in the sport. Looking back at this week’s key quotes of note, Boxing Scribe Vivek Wallace offers his own unique perspective, giving fight fans “a little something to think about”. Check it out!
“Well, Manny Pacquiao hasn’t. What African-American fighter has Manny Pacquiao fought? I think it’s a valid statement. But, at the same time, I don’t hold that against Pacquiao. He’s fighting everyone they put in front of him, and he’s destroying everyone that they do put in front of him, so you have to give him credit for that. But, even with Mosley, Pacquiao is not fighting an African-American in his prime. So that leaves an asterisk over the notion that Pacquiao has fought a top African-American.” – Kevin Cunningham on Pacquiao facing an African-American fighter
Perspective: The tough thing about this situation is that in a rare occurrence, both sides are actually right.
Cunningham, Hopkins, Jackson and the others who make this point are all right in the sense that Pacquiao has never faced a prime African-American fighter, and facing Mosley should be enticing, but it still won’t fit that criteria; however, although some could argue Pacquiao has cherry-picked a few opponents to a certain degree, he certainly didn’t side-step any African-Americans on his rise to fame because there weren’t really any in his path.
Critics have raised the fact that Pacquiao chose to face David Diaz for the WBC strap when Nate Campbell was the unified champ holding 3 of the divisional straps.
This is technically the only argument that holds any weight, as there was no other time Pacquiao had a fairly prime African-American fighter in his path and opted out. Was this move a symbol of fear? In my opinion, not as much as it was a wise business move and good matchmaking, which is an element that every other fighter in the sport has used to keep future mega-payday opportunities alive.
Based on that logic, I think you have to give Pacquiao a pass, but let the record reflect….there’s only one prime African-American fighter out there right now who truly belongs in the ring with him.
Hopefully they’ll square off soon so we can stop asking, “why hasn’t he faced an African-American”….”is he taking banned substances”….”can he handle a prime African-American fighter”….and simply move on!
“I saw a picture two or three months ago that I thought defined me. Cus and I were walking up a ramp [entering the ring] to fight. I’m so young and I’m so excited to go up in the ring, and Cus was holding onto the rail. We were going to take over the world, but nobody else knew who those two guys were going to be. Me and this old man, we had dreams. Cus believed I could do it……I didn’t believe I could make it. I have no dreams now……just to make sure my kids can behave and don’t wind up like me. You look at the situation….I’m not ashamed of who I am. My mother was a prostitute, my father a pimp. I didn’t do too bad. I didn’t do too bad.” – Mike Tyson on life with and without Cus D’Amato
Perspective: This caption embodies the story of “Iron” Mike Tyson better than any body of work one could ever read, or any book one could ever publish.
In only a few sentences, his story was made so cerebral that one could almost literally touch the greatest peak and deepest valley of his life.
Today, we see a tattoo faced villain-turned-humble-adult, yet this story confirms that underneath the thick skin we now see, in the beginning, this “young and excited” kid who was molded by the only man on the planet who believed in him was little more than a humble kid who was later turned to a villain.
We can all attest that life has a way of bringing out both the best and worst in all of us, but despite falling short a few times in the ring, it takes a true warrior to still stand tall after the course his life would later navigate.
Now that his body of work in the sport is officially complete as a result of his recent Hall-of-Fame induction, I’d like to quote him in saying perhaps he “didn’t do too bad” after all! Congrats, “Iron” Mike! Job well done!
“You have to ask yourself this question……who out there can beat him right now? Aside from Mayweather and Mayweather keeps slipping more and more. Everytime he stays inactive and other problems continue to rise in his personal life and stuff like that, it takes him more and more out of the game. Manny, on the other hand, is more and more active.” – Alex Ariza on Pacquiao’s biggest remaining challenge
Perspective: Very intriguing, yet somewhat misleading. Those are the five words that come to mind when I read this excerpt.
What’s funny is that Ariza and other members of Team Pacquiao have been accused of lying quite often, but when I read this excerpt, there’s a side of me that feels truer words have never been spoken.
“Who out there can beat him”? When you look at the jr. welterweight landscape, Khan, Alexander, Bradley, and company are all catching fire, but clearly no match for a man made of fire!
Cotto? Already beat him. Margarito? Already beat him worse! Martinez? Too big! Mosley? Possible, yet very improbable! So again, “who out there can really beat him”?
Since none of us seem to have an answer, it appears he was kind enough to actually give one to us! He touched on Mayweather’s inactivity, and how he’s “slipping” by allowing personal stuff to get him “more and more out of the game”, but he was also honest enough to point out the fact that he’s the only fighter today who can actually defeat the fightin’ Filipino!
All that’s quite intriguing……but where the “misleading” part comes in is now that Ariza has stated that Mayeweather is probably the only one out there who can beat Pacquiao, does this mean they’re waiting until he “slips” enough to finally fall? I’d love to hear them quote on this quote!
(Vivek Wallace can also be reached at [email protected], Youtube (VIVEK1251), Twitter (VIVEKWALLACE747), Skype (VITO-BOXING), Facbook, and Myspace)
