Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao are undoubtedly the two best boxers in the world at the moment, and are two of only a handful capable of selling a decent amount of pay per views. The one big difference between them though is the fact that Pacquiao doesn’t have the mouth to match his fists.
While Mayweather can sell a fight on hype alone, Pacquiao relies on having to actually do his talking in the ring and not anywhere else. Some might be inclined to think that this is due to the language barrier, which to a small extent it is when fighting primarily English speaking fighters in the United States. But even at home in the Philippines Pacquiao isn’t one to talk trash to sell a fight.
Even now Floyd is making headlines with his quips and smack talk, and by the time the fight happens, which most now think it will, the fans will be at fever pitch. After only a few days of Pacquiao beating Miguel Cotto, Floyd is already racking up the word counts with every media source that will listen to him:
Manny wins by staying quiet (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)
“Manny Pacquiao is the fighter and every time someone asks him if he wants to fight me, he says it is up to his promoter, he’s going to take a vacation, whatever the answer is,” Mayweather said. “I have yet to hear him actually say, ‘yes I want to fight Mayweather.’ We are the fighters and if one fighter is talking about fighting another fighter, then they should just come out and say it. Manny Pacquiao doesn’t say anything directly about fighting me because he might just know it’s not a fight he can win.” USA Today
“There is boxing and then there is me. The rest are just falling in line behind me or are trying to get in line to fight me. And that includes Manny Pacquiao too.
“Tell Manny Pacquiao to be his own man and stop letting everyone, including his loudmouth trainer, talk for him. I am my own boss, speak for myself and tell it like it is. If Manny Pacquiao wants to fight me, all he has to do is step up to the plate and say it himself.” BoxingScene (AP Photo)
Despite the fact that this is the biggest challenge of both fighters careers, this fight is still something of a win win for Pacquiao. If he wins then he is the hero and the pound for pound great most people believe him to be. If he loses, then he was the smaller fighter anyway, and Mayweather had all the advantages going into the fight.
Because of this Pacquiao can stay relatively silent and let his aides talk for him when appropriate, and yet still remain the more popular of the two.
If Floyd insists on waging a war of words against every prospective opponent, and he does, then he will find Pacquiao frustratingly mute. All the while Manny can sit back and let his own popularity grow as Floyd infuriates himself and finds less and less people on his side the more he talks.
