Dan Goossen made a great point when talking to Maxboxing on Monday: What is the best fight to be made if Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather can?t be made? The answer is simple: either fighter facing Paul Williams. Yet the prospect of either Pacquiao or Mayweather agreeing to fight Williams seems slim. So Dan Goossen is taking his case to the boxing fans and the boxing media.
?Great champions always seem to demand to fight the biggest and best names to prove who?s the greatest. Manny and Floyd have shown that in their careers.? Goossen said. So Goossen is calling on Manny Pacquiao to fight Paul Williams if the Mayweather fight doesn?t materialize. Goossen said he would gladly have Williams fight Mayweather but believes that Mayweather will not fight in 2010 if the negotiations fall apart.
While it?s easy to claim that Goossen?s motivation lies solely in the financial benefits of the fight, keep in mind it was Goossen who arranged for Andre Ward to participate in the ?Super Six? tournament. Does anyone honestly believe that Bob Arum would have had the only American Olympic Gold Medalist in the past three summer games compete in such a contest?
I will even go as far as to state that the only reason the ?Super Six? was able to happen is because Bob Arum was not involved.
Without a doubt this should be a golden era for The Sweet Science; three of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world fighting in the same weight class. Mayweather, Pacquiao and Williams are possibly the best trio of fighters at the same weight since Sugar Leonard, Thomas Hearns and Roberto Duran almost 30 years ago.
Yet boxing fans, let alone the average sports fan, have very little to be excited about these days. This is likely to be the first time in boxing history when the top three fighters in the world fight at the same weight and none fight each other. I?m sure it would be true for the post-segregation era.
At one time, Leonard, Hearns, Duran and Hagler fought at weights within 13 pounds of each other. In the end, they all fought each other at least once.
So I agree with Dan Goossen wholeheartedly. If you want to be the best, beat the best. So when Bob Arum signs the ?Pac-Man? to fight the washed-up, worn-out and disgraced Antonio Margarito in the Middle East or Monterrey, Mexico and when Golden Boy throws us garbage like Mosley vs. Mora, I won?t be buying.
Until boxing fans demand the best fights, we will get junk.
