When you write bad things about a certain boxer (like CNN?S Rachel Nichols did), chickens have a way of coming home to roost? ?Was Pacquiao legitimately injured? By all accounts, yes. Was he recovered from that injury, at least enough to fight? By his team?s own accounts, yes. Was his team deceitful when dealing with the Nevada commission? Also, yes?Did his claims allow for the mainstream media to issue one more en masse dismissal of boxing as they slammed the door behind them? Unfortunately, yes.??Paul Magno (Boxing Tribune)
?Either way, it seems pretty obvious that someone on the Pacquiao/Top Rank side really screwed this up, whatever it was. If it?s incompetence, there?s no excusing it. If it?s something else, then I guess you?d say its par for the course in boxing.??Scott Christ (BLH)
It appears the mainstream media (mostly ignorant of what boxing is all about) was granted full access to this extravaganza while boxing?s own veteran media and often Mayweather haters seemed to be on the outside looking in. Rumor has it that even the ?esteemed? Thomas Hauser was denied credentials as apparently was Steve Kim and a host of others. Of course, when you write bad things about a certain boxer (like CNN?S Rachel Nichols did), chickens have a way of coming home to roost. A TSS article titled ?Avila Manifesto: No More Coverage of Al Haymon or Mayweather Fights? features a courageous boxing journalist (possible oxymoron) who vows that he will no longer cover Al Haymon or Mayweather fights sine he and others were denied access. He ends his manifesto with these apparently hopeful words: ?Let?s see what the Boxing Writers Association of America decides.? Don?t hold your breath.
The Blame Game
?Disclosure is a big thing for us, and honesty?The commission at some point will have to discuss (Pacquiao?s medical questionnaire). I?ve got to run through the process with the (Nevada) Attorney General (Adam Laxalt). But they do sign that document under the penalty of perjury.??Cisco Aguilar, the Nevada Athletic Commission chairman told the Daily News Monday
?His team either committed an egregious mistake, or their gamesmanship by not disclosing something that could give the opponent a tactical advantage?a shoulder injury?came back to bite them. Or they were worried the fight was going to get cancelled because of the injury, and they weren?t going to get paid. These guys know better.??Travis Tygart, the CEO of USADA
Many who engaged their mouths before their brains were quick to assert that Floyd Mayweather Jr. may have done irreparable harm to boxing to which I reply, ?baloney? and ?how?? If there is any blame to pass around how about we send it directly towards Team Pacquiao which just might have been deceitful about reporting the shoulder injury? And if so, that deceit may well have had a profound negative impact on those who wagered hard-earned money on Pac-Man to win. Fact is, he just wasn?t good enough to beat Mayweather and that was manifest.
The gap between the hyped-up expectations and actual results hurt boxing to be sure, but if anything will kill the sport, it won?t be the ramifications of a freak show like this. More likely, the end will come down the road as a result of impending findings arising from in-depth studies on the relationship between concussions and other head injuries and football and hockey. And that?s what I?m currently working on.
Meanwhile, one ?what if? scenario continues to bother me and that has to do with the notion that certain people might have been worried the fight would be cancelled because of the injury, and they weren?t going to get paid. And remember, that pay was well over 100 million dollars.
