Pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather has started to hype his upcoming fight scheduled for May 3 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, possibly against British fighter Amir Khan, by continuously attacking Manny Pacquiao for the wrong reasons. But late last year Mayweather advised Pacquiao to trash his promoter Bob Arum so that the fight that every boxing fan wants to see can be made. Pacquiao has a live contract with Top Rank Promotions which will expire at the end of 2014. Mayweather, who was once promoted by Arum’s Top Rank Promotions said he will never do business with Arum again. Obviously Mayweather knows that Pacquiao isn’t getting a fair share of his partnership with Arum. Of all the things that Mayweather wants Pacquiao to do before he signs a fight contract with the Filipino star, his latest call for Pacquiao to leave Top Rank and become a free agent, is by far the most sensible condition he has put forward. For over three years, Mayweather has been demanding and setting up conditions for him to face Pacquiao in the ring. These include, the random blood and urine testing to be done all the way up to the day of the fight, the sharing of the fight purse, venue of the fight, among others. To critics and observers, these demands are nothing else but a camouflage or an excuse by Mayweather to evade Pacquiao because of the danger of actually losing to the Filipino fighter, who is known for his power and speed. Others say Mayweather has no intention of facing Pacquiao in the ring and would be happy retiring with his unblemished record. For marketing purposes, Mayweather believes that being undefeated in his professional career, makes his fights even more salable to the public.
With permission from Jun Aquino Filipino boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao Like this image If indeed Mayweather has no intention of facing Pacquiao in the ring despite enormous monetary rewards at stake, then it is becoming crystal clear that he is just using Pacquiao to hype his upcoming fights. Mayweather is a brilliant marketing guy and he will continue to find a way to keep himself visible in media as a way selling his fights to the public. The more he creates controversy, the better for him because he remains popular even with negative publicity coming from opposing fans. As Larry Merchant says, Mayweather is not really scared of Pacquiao as some fans claim but he is afraid he might not be able to preserve his untainted record if he agrees to face Pacquiao in the ring. “I think Floyd Mayweather thinks he’s going to beat Manny Pacquiao. He will be the favorite. What Mayweather is afraid of more than anything else is an L, a loss.” “He has marketed himself as this unbeaten and unbeatable fighter, and to a lot of new fans or unsophisticated fans, they think that’s a big, big deal, which it never has been, because if you fight enough good, young fighters in their prime, somebody’s gonna beat you. It happened to Pacquiao even in a bad decision, but against a tough, good kid.” Merchant added. Meanwhile, Pacquiao is getting closer to a rematch with Timothy Bradley as the choice has been reduced two from the original four in the Arum shortlist. Pacquiao has to choose between Bradley and Ruslan Provodnikov for his April 12 ring date at the MGM Grand. Read more. Likewise, Mayweather has also narrowed down his choice to Marcos Maidana of Argentina and Amir Khan of Great Britain for his scheduled fight on May 3.
