As everyone knows by now the mediation between the members of Team Mayweather and Team Pacquiao never produced the conclusive results that many had hoped for. The sides reportedly met for nine hours on Tuesday with nothing positive coming forward. From there it was reported that a Wednesday meeting would be held in hopes of somehow making the fight a reality.
Veteran boxing scribe Michael Marley hit the Facebook community late Tuesday evening with the news that he had been in touch with a reliable source on the side of Team Pacquiao and that there was a Midnight Pacific time deadline for Wednesday’s mediation. Midnight came and went and neither side seemed to give an inch, with the end result being that the proposed March 13th Pacquiao-Mayweather megafight is now officially off.
The news is disappointing to many but just as quick as word hit so too have the backup plans for each side started to spring forward. It now looks like Pacquiao will be facing Jr. Middleweight champion Yuri Foreman and Mayweather will be squaring off with former Jr. Welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi. While neither contest generates the kind of buzz and interest as a Floyd-Pac meeting, both contests are worthy of assessment, if anything else.
In talking to a few boxing heads in the New York area, many feel that Malignaggi has the exact style to give Mayweather fits. Local Welterweight contender Tommy Rainone said that Mayweahter’s biggest weakness is the fact that he doesn’t like to force the action, something that a fighter with Malignaggi’s skills could exploit.
“Styles make fights and Paulie matches up with Mayweather better than he does with Pacquiao,” Rainone stated. “Mayweather hates to come forward and play the role of puncher or chase somebody. And the few times he has had trouble in spots were against speed guys like Judah and Corley.”
As far as Pacquiao vs. Foreman is concerned, Rainone isn’t quick to dismiss the fight as a mismatch. While Pacquiao has been on a tremendous run as of late, Rainone feels that what Foreman has going for him is the fact that he is simply the bigger man with a style that can cause any opponents fits.
“Yuri has like six inches on Pac,” says Rainone of the Belarus fighter now residing in Brooklyn. “Plus he will out weigh him by quite a bit. On top of that Yuri is a tough nut to crack and he can box his ass off with great movement. Just from a style and size perspective I think he gives Pacquiao a tough night.”
Rainone went on to add that he was biased because of his New York roots, where both Paulie and the transplant Foreman now reside, but in talking to the Jr. Welterweight in the past I’ve found him to be full of objectivity and insight in much of what he says.
In going online further and getting a pulse of what the fans are saying to these recent developments, the reaction is far from upbeat. There are some insisting that it is hard to be a Mayweather fan these days while others simply are baffled that a fight with so much money attached to it couldn’t be made.
What it interesting is that if Pacquiao-Foreman and Mayweather-Malignaggi do take place, they will both most certainly be in Las Vegas and within a week’s time of one another. While hope may seem lost now, one insider pointed out, “While the fight may be ruined now, the hype will be double come March if both win impressively”.
Only time will tell.
