It’s been a wicked week for conventional widsom as it pertains to boxing. You can take the “Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao will never fight” storyline and put it where not even a broiling Manila miday sun will shine. Pens have been put to paper. The two icons fight, likely in leg one of a three bout package, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on May 2. And Mayweather did not use invisible ink. And octogenarian Pacman promoter Bob Arum was not afraid of his Meal Ticket Manny fighting the Unbeaten One, he was only apprehensive about not milking the glittering matchup for all the traffic will bear. So now the conventional wisdom “reveals” that the public will only be getting used merchandise, sloppy seconds, a shell of 38 year old “Money” and 36 year old Pacquiao. Which brings me back to a scorching Sunday morning, Oct. 1 in Manila. The year was 1975 and it was Chapter III, the classic heavyweight war of attrition between Muhammad Ali and his arch-rival, Smokin’ Joe Frazier. I was ringside for the opening chapter, March 8, 1971, at Madison Square Garden, perched in a free ($150 face value) ringside seat behind Aretha Frankin and alongside actor Jason Robards. I was a college kid who mooched the freebie from Ali via his colorful second, Bundini Brown. Tears came to my eye when Joe knocked my idol down and they flowed when the just decision was announced. Ali lost but life went on. But it was Manila where their best, most vicious combat took place. Good hearted Eddie Futch would not let the badly damaged Frazier come out for the 15th round, perhaps saving his fighter’s eyesight. Frazier was age 31 and Muhammad was 33, much younger than Manny and Floyd are now. But, if anything, the ring mileage, the boxing odometer, was higher on the two heavyweights than it is in the year 2015 on Mayweather and Pacman. Naysayers will keep on barking about how Mayweather-Pacquiao is chopped liver, packaged and being put on the shelf way, way past the “sell by” date. The proof will be in the punching. And, as I climb out on a limb, I hereby officially opine that the mercurial Mayweather, his eye on ring retirement when business with Manny is concluded,will take more chances than normal come the second day of May. As for Pacquiao, this fight, or at least this series, is likely also his swan song. The Roach Factor comes into play as well. Trainer Freddie, Manny’s beloved mentor, will implore his guy to make an indelible mark in fistic history for both their sakes, both their legacies. Anyone who tells you this Super Duper fight is going to be dreadful dud is either lying or does not know their history. Keep in mind, some of these nattering nabobs of negativity are in the same bullied pulpit that kept on weeping that Mayweather and Pacman would never cross gloves. They’ve been proven wrong by the signing of the contracts and the skeptics will be proven wrong again on May 2. The wear and tear, both physical and mental, will make for a more competitive fight, a more entertaining end product than it could’ve if it had transpired sooner. Four of five years ago, Mayweather plays with Pacquiao. Ditto for three years ago but we’ve seen some deterioration in both Floyd and Manny, albeit more visible in Manny, in recent years. Conventional wisdom took a beating Friday night. It will take a merciless pounding on May 2. ([email protected])
