When (and that’s when, not if), Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. eventually fight, it’s going to be gargantuan business. It really is the fight the world wants to see. In my time on the boxing beat, I can’t think of another fight for which there was as much worldwide public demand — not even the heavyweight championship fight between Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson, which was years in the making but is a distant second to this one.
When their handlers finally settle on the business deal — which should be a simple 50-50 split, and they can flip a coin on whether to call it Pacquiao-Mayweather or Mayweather-Pacquiao — the bout will not only determine who is the best fighter in the world, pound for pound. It also will determine the fighter of the decade and give the winner a leg up in terms of where they will eventually fall on the all-time list of boxing’s best fighters.
It truly will be a summit meeting of the sport’s best. It’s rare that the best two fighters in the world fight in the same weight class and have such polar-opposite personalities.
Please, when the fight happens (and again, that’s when, not if), let’s make sure there is no catch weight associated with the match.
Mayweather has been a welterweight since 2005, even if he hasn’t been fighting the best welterweights. Although Pacquiao has had only two welterweight fights, it’s clear that he can more than handle the division considering he didn’t lose a second to Oscar De La Hoya before pounding him into retirement in just eight rounds, and he dominated Miguel Cotto for most of their fight before scoring an authoritative 12th-round TKO.
Pacquiao-Mayweather — or Mayweather-Pacquiao, if you prefer — should be at the traditional welterweight limit of 147 pounds.
By the way, for anyone who was in the arena Saturday night for Pacquiao-Cotto, the atmosphere was incredible, among the best I have ever been in. That was due, in large part, to the effort of Top Rank, particularly company president Todd duBoef, who spent good money (more than $150,000, he said) to erect a giant, 21-feet-high, 22-feet-across bank of LED screens above the ring that showed the action and replays in phenomenal quality. The MGM Grand Garden Arena has large screens in all four corners, but the cylinder of screens duBoef had designed for the fight — which he got the idea for after seeing a recent U2 concert — made it a much better experience for those in the arena. It looked pretty cool on the HBO PPV telecast as well.
DuBoef also redesigned the lighting for the arena, pumped up the sound system to levels worthy of a rock concert, and had an excellent DJ who kept the arena lively throughout the card — not to mention the tremendous highlight packages Top Rank produced for the big screens between fights. DuBoef is a keen observer of the way entities such as UFC and WWE have enhanced the in-arena experience for fans, and he’s bringing that to boxing. It’s about time.
• One quick thought on HBO’s “24/7” series that followed the Pacquiao-Cotto buildup. I thought the fourth (and final) episode was the strongest final episode of all the installments of the series. I really enjoyed the interviews with Las Vegas icons such as Wayne Newton and Lance Burton, as well as the profile of Top Rank’s Bob Arum. It’s about time “24/7” included the promoters in the series rather than ignore them, as it has for every other run of the show. One thing, however: I could have lived without the shot of Cotto’s butt, although the women in the audience watching in the media center the night before the fight seemed to enjoy it.
