?Frankly my dear, I don?t give a damn,? exclaimed Big Steve while pouncing on a heavy bag at the Y in Glendale:? I am tired of listening to verbal duels between Pacquiao and Mayweather and Arum and Schaefer and De La Hoya. Who is ducking who? Who cares? Give me something I can use. Is this fight ever going to happen??
I posed that same question to HBO?s Jim Lampley yesterday when I saw him at the Wildcard Boxing Gym in Hollywood.
?I don?t know whether it?s going to happen. I am surprised it hasn?t happened to this point,? replied Lampley:? It?s not the first time in the history of boxing that the fight like that has lingered on the horizon for years and years and years without being made when everybody in the world can see the overwhelming logic that it should be made. Oscar De La Hoya and Felix Trinidad fought about four years after you might first have expected that it was actually going to take place.? Advertisement
Another fight that comes to mind is Tyson Lewis. That fight took so long that it was too late to mean anything, since Mike Tyson was way past his prime. Would Pacquiao and Mayweather wait till they are in their forties to make the fight?
?I am not willing to tell you that I know for sure that at some point Floyd Mayweather and many Pacquiao are going to fight,? continued Lampley:? But all the logic that was piled on the table that they should have fought two and a half years ago is still there. So I still suspect that at some point money, logic and prevailing law of gravity will see to it that they get into the ring together.?
The boxing world along with an army of casual fans craves this fight; has been craving it for the past three years. But could the actual event be a huge disappointment due to so much built up and anticipation? Just like a fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather, which broke all the box office records, turned out to be nothing more than a brisk sparring session? Would Floyd Mayweather be just as illusive in the ring to Manny Pacquiao as a fight itself being made? Would this be a mismatch or a competitive fight? I asked Jim Lampley for his take on the outcome.
?In the long history of boxing and you can go back to the first gloved prize fight between James Corbett and John Sullivan,? replied Lampley:? The great defender has almost always dismantled a great attacker. See Bernard Hopkins versus Felix Trinidad. See Gene Tunney vs. Jack Dempsey. The great defender almost always dismantles a great attacker. So, I?ve always felt that Floyd Mayweather has tactical advantages and the geometric advantages over Manny Pacquiao. I?ve seen nothing in recent years to change that. I still believe that Floyd, in my view, would be a prohibitive favorite to win the fight.?
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