With the rumbling shakeup in a number of pound-for-pound lists most notably Kevin Iole?s Yahoo rankings, the battle lines have been drawn. It?s either you are for the flamboyant ring virtuoso Floyd Mayweather or for the fire-breathing Manny Pacquiao. Never was the boxing world this evenly split in fairly recent times.
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One can?t help it, after Floyd?s awe-inspiring performance putting himself in the eye of the storm and walking down hall-of-famer Shane Mosley. This after getting nearly knocked down TWICE.
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One must admit though, unless a current pound-for-pound king loses or retires, there is no justifiable way to dislodge him from the top.
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Junior welterweight may be the hottest division in boxing today. Rising global star Amir Khan completely whitewashed talkative New Yorker Paulie Malignaggi, while rebuilding ?Vicious? Victor Ortiz humiliated the ageing Nate Campbell. Waiting in the wings are recognized champ Tim Bradley and highly regarded Devon Alexander fresh from a KO win over the tough Juan Urango.
Golden Boys Oscar dela Hoya and Richard Schaefer must be grinning from ear to ear with these dominant wins for their promoted fighters. At least they have something to show for the exclusive TV dates HBO has unconditionally given them, for now. Just don?t put Joan Guzman and his ridiculous weight-making shenanigans anywhere near those HBO dates ever again.
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The ?Galaxxy Warrior? looked more like a blackhole against Victor Ortiz last weekend. Campbell was completely outclassed and he seemed ready to walk away from boxing in his post-fight interview. He and the other dejected loser, Malignaggi, also happen to be two of those among the boxing community who have been very vocal in their accusations regarding Manny Pacquiao?s alleged performance enhancing drug use.
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Regardless what one thinks of the propriety of making such insinuations, they have kept their names floating and have snagged several fights as a result. But I guess with their fifteen minutes? of fame all but up and after experiencing utterly deflating losses we won?t be seeing them anytime soon.
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Bob Arum and Richard Schaefer have finally gagged themselves regarding renewed negotiations for the Pacquiao-Mayweather showdown. It?s about time, I say.
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Maybe everybody has just misinterpreted Floyd Joy Mayweather Senior all this time. We all know the guy is prone to hyperbole everytime he opens his mouth. Who knows, he was just probably paying the ultimate compliment to Manny Pacquiao when he rambled on about how devastating and impervious to punches the Filipino destroyer has become at the higher weights, and the only reason he could think of is his notorious allegations.
One can understand where he is coming from. Pacquiao is a rare phenomenon, and sometimes what people don?t understand, they fear. This fear sometimes gives birth to urban myths and legends.
Floyd Sr could never understand how this former flyweight who did not have the proper boxing fundamentals early in his career could achieve so much at the higher weights that he was able to surpass even his own son. That is why he had no other recourse but to bring up totally unfounded accusations.
But it still does not excuse him from answering for his irresponsible actions.
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