There’s a certain caliber of fight that only occurs once in a great while. The term “mega-fight” is used loosley by promoters and broadcasting companies, but the true mega-fight is actually a rare animal.
Mega-fights are those bouts that fans will talk about for decades to come.
They are always preceeded by a tremendous amount of hype, then they have to live up to the hype.
Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns all participated in mega-fights that are still fondly remembered and discussed to this day.
Obviously, a bout between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. has the potential to be another fight that would leave fans talking for many years.
I recently had the pleasure of speaking with boxing historian and author, Mike Silver. I asked Silver for his thoughts on the sigificance of Pacquiao-Mayweather.
“Well, I think it’s the most important fight of the last twenty years. This fight must take place,” Silver said. “It’s very important that this fight take place for boxing to develop new fans and to generate interest again. I mean, this is it. This is what the sport is all about!”
Shane Mosley, left, takes a hard right from Floyd Mayweather (AP Photo)
Former martial arts competitor and boxing fan Dewayne Berry of Bloomer, Arkansas agrees.
“The sport needs a great fight to get people back into boxing,” Berry said. “A lot of people that used to keep up with boxing would be drawn back in by the Pacquiao-Mayweather match.”
Silver went on to talk about the difficulty there has been in getting the fight made.
“I don’t understand it. I mean, in the old days this fight would have been made in a matter of minutes,” Silver said. “The managers would have grabbed the fighters by the scruff of the neck and said, ‘Are you out of your mind? Sign the contract!’ But this is one fight that [Mayweather] is not sure he can win so I guess he has doubts. Maybe it’s not worth it to him.”
Be watching for an upcoming, exclusive interview in which Silver talks about Cotto-Foreman, Pacquiao-Mayweather, and the transformation that boxing has undergone in recent history. Silver also speaks about his highly acclaimed book, The Arc of Boxing: The Rise and Decline of the Sweet Science.
