Big time NFL team owner Jerry Jones wants the fight at his Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, Texas.
For the last two years fans across the globe, from Manila to Las Vegas have been intrigued by the potential clash featuring two legendary pugilists and have been in a frenzy for the bout since it almost came into fruition this past December.
Yet regardless of the demand for the fight, or the historical significance of the event, my gut level instinct is that a match between Floyd Mayweather Junior and Manny Pacquiao will never take place.
There are many potential stumbling blocks to derail the fight at the negotiating table – the purse split, ring size, extraordinary Olympic style drug testing, glove size, the fight’s location, etc…
And though Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum has stated in the media that he is diligently working on fight out of one side of his mouth, the other sides – and the man seems to have more tongues than I can count, are running wild mentioning potential bouts for Pacquiao with Antonio Margarito, or the winner of Miguel Cotto and Yuri Foreman’s summer fight.
As Mayweather vs. Pacquiao sways in the winds of negotiations, Pacquiao has won a congressional seat in his homelands of the Philippines and announced that his final fight will be this November.
For the sake of Pacquiao’s legacy, a relatively untarnished one which has been highlighted by an impressive run of victories over the last several months, he must face Floyd Mayweather.
Some will say Pacquiao has left his mark by crushing opponents in several different weight classes, but by sidestepping Mayweather in his final bout, he will leave a major question unanswered – how was a better fighter, Mayweather or Pacquiao.
Not to mention boxing fans will be left void of one of the most meaningful and desired fights of the last twenty-years, due to the stubbornness of both Team Pacquiao and Team Mayweather.
We can only hope, as followers of the great sport of boxing, that Arum, Pacquiao, and Mayweather, along with Mayweather’s promoters, can get this fight done in the next several weeks.
