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IF THERE IS EVER A TIME FOR PACQUIAO TO FALL OFF IT WOULD BE NOW By Jason Aniel PhilBoxing.com Sun, 12 Sep 2010  San Mateo, CA?There is a common term in the sports worlds called a ?trap game?. A trap game (or fight in this context) is where a fighter is matched against a lesser opponent before facing a quality opponent, which more often than not the fighter loses. That is the situation that Manny Pacquiao faces as he enters into training camp to prepare for his November 13, 2010, fight against Antonio Margarito. Many, especially this writer, expected that Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather would finally meet in the fight the entire sports world demanded to see by the end of 2010. As it turns out, Mayweather, who once again broke the bank when drawing 1.4 million PPV buys in his last fight against Shane Mosley, wanted an extended vacation and decided not to fight at all for the rest of the year. It was definitely a buzzkill for the boxing world, but Mayweather was well within his rights to take the rest of 2010 off. Despite Mayweather dominance in the scorecards against Shane Mosley, he was in a tough fight, where he was rocked twice in one round. Even Freddie Roach was quick to point out that Mayweather?s legs did not look as good as in previous fights. Added with a huge payout he generated for the fight, there?s no problem for Mayweather taking the rest of the year off, provided he doesn?t fight another opponent. Essentially, it was Mayweather?s last ?get out of jail for free card? for backing out of a fight with Pacquiao. The first one was that Mayweather needed to dust the rust off from a 18 month layoff. The second was that Pacquiao would not take random blooding testing up until the day of the fight. With this recent reason, Mayweather has officially ran out of the legitimate excuses for not fighting Pacquiao. Unless Mayweather fights Pacquiao in May of 2011, then there?s nothing left to say but that Mayweather is scared to fight Pacquiao. However, it was not like Pacquiao couldn?t have benefited from a vacation from the boxing ring of his own. After going 12 rounds with Joshua Clottey last March, Pacquiao ran for the congressional seat, where most people predicted Pacquiao would not win. Bob Arum described it as the toughest fight in Manny?s life. In an upset, Pacquiao was able to wrestle away the congressional seat from the incumbent political family that dominated that district in the Philippines for years. But the toughest fight of Pacquiao?s life turned out to be just the start, as now Pacquiao is responsible for health, safety, and economic success of the district that elected him. Pacquiao would admit that being a congressman is much tougher than he ever expected. However, Pacquiao is a fighter in every definition of the word and while he doesn?t need the fight with Margarito, Pacquiao wants to fight for his fans and countrymen that adore the seven-time champion. Did I forget to mention that he would be fighting Margarito?the tallest, biggest, and strongest puncher Pacquiao will have ever faced? Margarito, who is infamous for getting caught with illegal handwraps moments before his fight with Shane Mosley, was almost stripped of his only source of income as the states of Nevada and California refused to grant him a license to box. California, more blunt that Nevada, stated to Margarito that he shouldn?t fight for another year in order to be considered for a license to fight in California. Margarito?s career in the ring looked bleak until Texas stepped up and granted Margarito a second opportunity to fight in the United States. Margarito?s entire career can be defined as a fighter looking for a chance. Margarito lost some fights early in his career and was never the fighter that set up or grommed for greatness. He had to earn everything he got. Margarito was a rough and tough fighter who brought everything he had into every fight. In many ways, he was the welterweight version of Erik Morales because he was always in a good fight and was willing to fight anyone. However, unlike Morales, Margarito never received the big break he needed to really establish himself as a world class fighter and a Mexican superstar. Mayweather turned down a 6 million dollar guarantee to face Margarito. He also slipped in a few fights against opponents who were able to outbox Margarito. Finally, in 2008, Margarito finally got the break he had been waiting for when he became the first to defeat Miguel Cotto in a Welterweight championship fight. In retrospect, Margarito was involved in Pacquiao?s big break fighting Oscar De La Hoya. When Floyd stepped away from the boxing ring, De La Hoya was searching for an opponent for a fight in December of 2008. De La Hoya targeted Miguel Cotto because of Cotto?s reputation, marketability, and match-up. However, when Margarito stopped Cotto, De La Hoya?s attention turned to Pacquiao, who was a lightweight at the time. De La Hoya made it clear that Margarito wasn?t the type of opponent Oscar would be willing to fight. Thus, Pacquiao jumped to the top of the list and the rest was history. After Margarito finally received the recognition he had been searching for his entire career, he proceeded to ruin it quicker than an Usain Bolt 100 meter dash. Margarito, who by early 2009, became Mexico?s number one fighter, helped draw the biggest crowd ever at Staples Center in Los Angeles. In what was supposed to be Margarito?s biggest event ever turned into one of biggest controversies in boxing. Add to that, Margarito looked awful against Mosley, a heavy underdog, who battered Margairto and stopped him in just 9 rounds. However, now Margairto was granted a second chance against Pacquiao this coming November. A second chance not only to return to elite status in the boxing world, but redeem his entire boxing career and his life in general. For Pacquiao, he risks his entire legendary career in an attempt to win an 8th world title in eight weight divisions. Pacquiao will face a lot of questions this upcoming training camp against an opponent that should not be taken lightly. Will Pacquiao have Mayweather withdrawals? Will Pacquiao overlook Margarito in anticipation of Mayweather? Will Pacquiao focus the majority of his time to congress and not to training and focusing on Margairto? Can Pacquiao possibly retain his abilities at an even higher weight class? These are questions Pacquiao has answered in the past by continuing to dominate in competition over the past 9 years. But will he do it again? AND MAYWEATHER THOUGHT IT WAS EASY TO CLOWN PACQUIAO Despite not having any scheduled fight for the rest of the year, Floyd Mayweather continues to be the topic of discussion in the sports world. Last week, Mayweather made a rant in attempt to ridicule and belittle his rival Pacquiao. The rant included racist comments and homophobic comments. Though it is unlikely Mayweather?s intent was racial, his intent was definitely to defame, ridicule, and embarrass Pacquiao, who many believe is the best fighter in the world today and is defintially more liked than Mayweather. Well, that backfired so greatly that Mayweather was forced to publically apologize for his comments?something Mayweaher rarely does. Pacquiao did a great job not making it a bigger deal than he could have made it. My take? Trashing talking is and will always be part of the sport. It?s unlikely that Mayweather will ever stop trash talking and no one should force him to stop. However, Mayweather should step his game up because his attempt to trash Manny just plain sucked?in terms of effectiveness and cleverness. The rant made no logical sense. His racial attacks against Manny were based off the wrong race. He made inaccurate statements about how much Manny earns a fight. He attempted his best ?8-mile impersonation? by making a freestyle rap diss, which didn?t rhyme and was play on a kid?s nursery rhyme. Muhammad Ali would have told Mayweather to just stop. Should they ever fight, Mayweather needs to either hire a writer or come up with better material because this ?3 losses and 2 draw? things isn?t going to hold water much longer. QUICK JABS Wladimir Klitschko successfully defended his title against Samuel Peter. Clearly, the biggest fight in the heavyweight division is Klitschko vs. David Haye. This fight deserves simpliar pressure to be made as Pacquiao vs. Mayweather?Just saw video of Ricky Hatton snorting cocaine. Man, did he fall off...Erik Morales, if victorious in his next fight, is lined up to face Juan Manuel Marquez in 2011. About 7 years too late, but I always wanted to see this fight? As a native son of the Bay Area, prayers go out to all those effective by the San Bruno fires that occurred in this week. Contact this writer at sportnjordan@gmail.com or @sportnjordan on twitter. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Jason Aniel.  |
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