There has been a lot of attention given to Mayweather vs. Pacquaio over the last year or so, but how likely is it to actually happen?
Personally I don’t think the fight will ever be made, despite the fact that it would be the biggest of either fighters career. Neither fighter wil accept a 50/50 split, both believing that they are worth more than the other. Similarly the promotion of the fight would probably be a sticking point, given Mayweathers bad relations with Top Rank and Bob Arum.
Also according to recent statements by maligned Pacquaio advisor Michael Koncz, the fight isn’t very likely:
“Mayweather seems to handpick his opponents while Cotto will fight anybody and everybody,” Koncz said. “So to me I feel Cotto is the much stronger fighter than Mayweather.”
“Do we wanna do Mayweather? Of course we wanna do Mayweather,” Koncz said . “But we won’t be railroaded and pushed around, bullied around.
“We don’t need Mayweather. If Manny gets past Cotto in great fashion, I don’t believe it makes a difference who he fights next. … We’re not gonna chase Mayweather, absolutely not.”
The first statement by Koncz is undoubtedly true, Mayweather certainly does pick his opponents more carefully than most fighters. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that Cotto is better than Mayweather, but he certainly makes for a more exciting match up than Marquez did for Mayweather.
Given that Manny isn’t going to chase down Mayweather, and that Mayweather won’t back down on whatever his contract demands would be, the fight probably won’t ever happen.
The big difference is that the public percieves Mayweather as ducking Pacquaio rather than the other way around, so Manny can afford for the fight not to happen. Mayweather is under pressure to make the fight happen because of taking easy fights like Marquez. Pacquaio still has his credibility in tact because he’s still fighting people who might be a threat to him.
Recent statements by Mayweather certainly aren’t going to help with hsi out of control ego. As reported by fellow examiner Dennis Guillermo, Mayweather has recently stated that : “If I leave the sport, its dead.”
Presumably Floyd was unaware of boxing during his first ‘retirement’ when things far from ground to a halt. It occurs to most people that Mayweather needs boxing more than it needs him. He is a big draw, but not the biggest there ever was like he seems to think. Similarly there aren’t that many more fights out there for him if he continues to play it safe. Even his most ardent fans don’t want to pay good money to see him slap around a lightweight for 12 rounds.
There isn’t any disputing that Mayweather is a great fighter, but unless he starts taking more testing fights he will probably be remembered as someone who took easy fights to keep his record intact. To remain an all time great he needs the Pacquaio fight more than Pacquaio does.
The main problem both fighters have is that if they were to lose then they would instantly lose their claim to the best pound for pound fighter of the moment, and would lose out on future pay days. If one of them were truly that confident that they could beat the other, then getting less than 50% despite whatever drawing power they might have shouldn’t be a problem. After all it would only mean a couple of million dollars less, which sounds like a lot to you and me, but isn’t that much to either of them.
Having won the fight, the winner could then make a lot more money at his leisure, being the biggest draw in boxing and being the champion everyone else wants to beat.
