Other media may have been quicker to come to this conclusion than me, but Round One of “The Hype” for “The Fight” goes to Floyd Mayweather, Jr. over Manny Pacquiao.
It’s a clear 10-8 round. What Mayweather did was put Pacquiao on the defensive, even threatening a foolish lawsuit. Bob Arum and his matchmaker Bruce Trampler even have “Yo Paulie” Malignaggi on their speed dial.
But did Mayweather strike a nerve in Pacquiao? Nobody knows.
Thankfully, when the boys fight for real though, it will be Manny Pacquiao in the ring.
Maybe all Mayweather, Jr. has done was wake up a sleeping giant in Pacquiao. Remember, Pacquiao is still recovering from his training and actual fight with Miguel Cotto.
So I say, “For what it’s worth, Mayweather, Jr. gets Round One. But he’s going to have to fight Pacquiao for real sometime soon.”
Pacquiao is not on illegal steroids. What he is, is a freak of nature. I say that in a positive sense.
Like no fighter since a come-backing heavyweight George Foreman in the early 1990s and ultimately 1994, no fighter has displayed the physical strength and mental toughness like Pacquiao has on this current title run he is on.
Other world class heavyweights have made comebacks such as Larry Holmes. But Holmes failed because both his strength and skills atrophied as he got older. Not Foreman’s. In fact Foreman didn’t have a lot of skill to begin with. He had to count on his knockout power.
I don’t know what promoter Arum and Pacquiao will come up with, because there has to be a Round Two. But ultimately, the actual fight is the thing and today, Monday, December 28, we are 74 days out from March 13, 2010.
