THIS WEEK, I expect my usual share of questions from my basektball group at the Ateneo covered courts and regulars at coffee shops around town about why Pacquiao-Mayweather isn?t pushing through, again.
Just last Sunday at the coffee shop, were I hibernate in to grade my students? work, a boxing follower/walking fight webpage doesn?t see the pile of papers on my table and ambushes me.
?Why, Sev? Why isn?t it pushing through again,? he moans, and then later speculates why the fight is another no go.
?Takot siguro si Mayweather, sir, (Maybe Mayweather is scared)? says a young boxing fan I played hoops with recently as we warmed up before our usual race to 60 point scrimmages on the Ateneo cement court.
Just like many others, he is getting weary over not seeing the one fight he wants to see.
I?m trying not to view it as my basketball buddy sees it. Having checked Mayweather up close in Las Vegas against Oscar De La Hoya, you know you?re looking at a wily warrior that knows how to invade and evade.
He doesn?t knock opponents out each time but he has followers who see him as a complete package, unwrapping each time how boxing should be done.
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I sense that, aside from the demands for Pacquiao to undergo blood tests over and beyond what is required, Mayweather is really angling for a time when he feels it?s right to finally meet the honorable congressman from Sarangani province inside the ring.
The boxing pundits can churn out anything they want about why the fight isn?t happening but it all depends on Floyd. He probably feels that, as the undefeated fighter, he is the bigger draw and should fight on his terms.
This, despite losing the pound-for-pound mythical title to Pacquiao.
Pacman?s accomplishments over the last two years?while Mayweather was in ?retirement??are certified golden conquests that showcased his skill and power in different weight classes.
Mayweather probably considers these feats pale to all that he has done.
So here we go again, with the fight of a lifetime not taking place, yet. Paquiao, who trusts Bob Arum completely, will, as he always says, ?fight anyone my promoter tells me to fight.?
So, say it isn?t so Floyd?as we adapt the famous line supposedly uttered by a young man as baseball player Shoeless Joe Jackson walked away from the Black Sox that had several players involved in losing the World Series intentionally?that fighting Pacquiao will never happen.
Say that we will see Mayweather-Pacman on our screens. Say that everything standing in the way of seeing this through will be removed.
Say that this fight of a lifetime, especially for us in this part of the planet, will finally have a poster, a name and a DVD that will outlive us all.
At least, we know that despite the efforts of Arum to finally book this showdown, Mayweather hasn?t given a firm and final ?no? to fight Pacquiao.
As the late Joe Cantada would say, quoting poet Alexander Pope, hope springs eternal for all of us.
