In what is news to no one, Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, JR,, are in negotiations regarding a March super fight for the Pound for Pound Championship of the world. These two have been on a crash course for a long time. When Mayweather stepped out of the sport (“retired”) for a short period of time, he left his throne as the best in the fight game to the number two warrior in Pacquiao. Pacquiao gladly accepted the relinquished position and defended it with a flourish, moving up several weight classes and obliterating some very solid competitors along the way.
Mayweather, either jealous or in need of riches, returned to the fight game this year and told the world that he would regain his place at the top of the sport. His first order of business was to clinically dismantle Juan Manuel Marquez. The move was, like many of Mayweather’s other actions, calculated both inside the ring and outside of it. He used his classic piston jab and ring control to keep Marquez on his heels en route to victory.
In a forgotten chapter in Boxing history, Mayweather was able to enter the ring with extra weight after willingly taking a loophole penalty that allowed him to pay up for better odds. Money gave Marquez $600,000 extra dollars, a pitiful sum considering the implications of the extra poundage and the final purse for the fight, and made the contracted weight of 147. Mayweather looked like the bigger man that night because he WAS the bigger man that night.
Mayweather’s choice of Marquez was a genius business move because it eliminated the key alternate big money option for Manny Pacquiao. Marquez and Pacquiao are career foils who have traded evenly for twenty-four rounds of Boxing. Marquez also happened to be the number two Pound for Pound fighter when Floyd fought him. With that win, the former Pound for Pound Champ became the number two Pound for Pound warrior and the number one contender for the crown he once handed off to Pacquiao.
Following Mayweather’s win over Marquez, Pacquiao fought and destroyed Miguel Cotto, a man many regarded as the top of the welterweight division at the time of the fight. Immediately following that bout, fans everywhere began to clamor for a Mayweather-Pacquiao showdown for all the marbles. Mayweather initially stuck his tongue out at the idea, stating that he was not hearing Pacquiao call his name. Instead, Mayweather claimed, Manny was letting trainer Freddie Roach do the talking.
The concept that a fighter MUST always do his own talking is ludicrous enough given the fact that a boxer’s job is to fight and win. The promoters, managers, advisers and trainers are the ones that need to spin, wheel, and deal for their man. Pacquiao’s job, which he does quite well is to knock the head off of any other man that dares to get in the ring with him. All basic rules of Boxing public relations aside, Mayweather’s hypocrisy is top notch. Whenever he is asked who he would like to fight, Pretty Boy tells press row that the decision has been left up to Al Haymon and Leonard Ellerbe. If fighters were in charge of calling out their own prey, Mayweather would never fight anyone.
In spite of his first antics, the public’s constant demand eventually opened the doors to discussions between the feuding camps of Bob Arum and Richard Schaeffer. Schaeffer’s Golden Boy Promotions, owned by the great Oscar De La Hoya (in case you have been under a rock for the past five years), is now the essential representative for Mayweather. Pretty Boy, one of the only free agents in the sport, is free no more.
At first, the two camps had disagreements about weight. Pacquiao’s side of the coin needed to put an enforcement in place that was strong enough to ensure that Mayweather would not slip a few extra pounds onto his body heading into the fight. The fears were just; as was mentioned earlier, Mayweather has previously put on extra weight prior to a fight and gladly taken a menial penalty for the right to do so.
In the end, the two sides agreed to a $10 million per pound penalty, no small amount of weight in a fight in which each side will make $30-50 million. This measure is perhaps slightly harsh, but is based on a reassurance that past problems will not again arise.
Mayweather’s side has countered in these negotiations with a scurrilous, scummy, gutless public relations move by demanding that Manny Pacquiao take Olympic-style blood tests. Such a recommendation is obviously intended to reinforce the idea that, as some envious and idiotic fighters have suggested, Manny Pacquiao takes performance-enhancing drugs. These allegations, pervasive though unfounded, have followed Pacquiao around and led to a new line of talking points for Mayweather fans everywhere.
Pacquiao has refused this term outright for a variety of reasons. His first claim is that having his blood taken freaks him out a little bit. Pacquiao has undergone blood-testing in the past, but he would prefer not to be tested as many times as the commission wants to test him the week before the fight. Such an allowance would open the door for testing at any point in time.
Mayweather fans have used this as an opportunity to hang off of their man’s nuts with one hand and flip the bird with the other. Flooding the chat rooms of the Boxing world are irrelevant videos of Manny having his blood taken, and false claims that Pacquiao has stated that he has a fear of needles. The masses of morons continue to clamor, pointing to Pacquiao’s many tattoos as a sign that he fears nothing that could possible involve a sharp object entering his body.
Pacquiao has not publicly said that he fears needles. Even if he had, there is a HUGE contextual difference between having your blood taken and getting a tattoo. It doesn’t take Einstein to know that blood tests require the removal of blood from your body, while tattoos are based on the insertion of ink. In a rational world, the second should be scarier than the first. However, fear is not a matter of rationality, and Pacquiao’s fears are not required to be a matter of rationality.
This is where the Mayweather fans begin the ultimately fallacious line of thinking that has invaded the pugilistic marketplace of ideas: If Manny Pacquiao is not afraid of the outcome of tests, why would he reject the idea outright?
There is plenty of good explanation for such a decision. First and foremost, there has never been evidence of Manny Pacquiao’s use of performance-enhancing drugs. There is no need for him to suddenly prove that he is in the clear. The idea that Pacquiao has to answer for a ridiculous charge is the equivalent of Glenn Beck’s insane rants regarding the Obama Administration’s supposed master plan to turn America into a communist nation. Constantly, Beck implies that the refusal to defend against these charges is an admission of guilt.
In reality, we know that answering a fake charge never works. Replying to insanity only increases its charge. In communication wars, there is no reason to give the other side the ball, especially when that side is as savvy and Machiavellian as the “great” Floyd Mayweather.
Pacquiao is refusing blood tests because consistent blood-testing the week before a fight is a hassle and will weaken the fighter immensely. Mayweather has already planned to debate that fact by putting another talking point into the press, sprinkling into most statements that “he would be willing to undergo the same tests.” The problem is that these tests will more greatly affect Pacquiao than they will Mayweather. The physical issues here are completely moot. A tablespoon of blood will not affect either fighter. However, acceptance of this testing is seen by some as an admission of guilt. Jim Lampley will constantly mention this blood testing during the fight and add pressure to the Pacquiao camp. The move is a stunt and it is obvious to anyone who actually pays attention to the fight game.
The comedic lining of this exchange is completely overlooked; Olympic blood tests don’t work. Marion Jones was able to duck the tests until a grand jury forced her to admit to steroid use. The tests failed.
That aside, Pacquiao’s most steadfast admissions still won’t work. Even if they stuck in the public brain, attacks always stick more than counter-attacks. Pacquiao would be working off of the ropes in answering charges.
There is an old story of a politician accusing an opponent of a sex scandal. A young staffer questioned the move, stating that the charges were true and no one would believe them. The seasoned veteran responded, “It doesn’t matter if they’re true. Now he has to take time to respond to them.”
Make no mistake that Floyd Mayweather is politically and communicatively brilliant. I hope that he is running out of gas, but I don’t think the public is tired of him. If these Olympic blood tests go through, he will continue to attack outside the ring. Mayweather fans will always use the same old tired reasoning:
“Floyd would beat Manny anyway.”
“Manny is doping.”
“Manny was knocked out! Twice!”
These tired defenses of a guy who is out of accomplishments to brag about clang off the rim with unclear, ugly, metallic vomits. Floyd and his legions will always attack. Counter-attacks feed into his commercial assumption of the role as the villain in the arena, the scum with super skills.
That said, Manny needs to hit back. My advice would be to subtly make a major issue of Mayweather’s tax evasion. Pin him down on the money. Tell him who the star is. Beat everyone around Mayweather’s legacy if Money refuses to make the fight. Ask why Mayweather has never asked past opponents to take these tests. Ask him if he is implying that the blood testing system, the commission and the sanctioning bodies are crooked. Make him an enemy of people that normally look the other way. Call him scared. Turn Mayweather into a total and complete joke by ascending to heights so great that no one, from F-16s to super-welterweights, can shoot you down.
Thankfully, Pacquiao has taken note of the fact that he has to counter-intuitively fight dirty. The Pinoy Powerhouse is suing Mayweather’s camp for defamation and has issued statements that tell it like it is. In the interest of a spectacular new year and the end of an era-worth of PR lies, Pacquiao has expressed this sentiment in a cleverly crafted piece that cuts to the heart of the matter:
“I say to Floyd Mayweather, JR., don’t be a coward and face me in the ring, mano a mano, and shut your big, pretty mouth so we can show the world who is the true king of the ring.”
