If you’re looking for someone other than promoter Bob Arum to blame for yet another utter waste of $55 or $65, depending on whether you bought the Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley mismatch in HD, neither Pacquiao nor Mosley should top your list.
The boxer most responsible for Saturday’s aesthetic disgrace wasn’t even in the building, much less the ring at MGM’s Grand Garden Arena.
That enigmatic man claims he wasn’t even watching Pacquiao dominate Mosley on TV. He swears he was watching a Lady Gaga concert on HBO.
That’s quite ironic considering Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s refusal to face Pacquiao in what could become the most profitable fight in boxing history has left HBO Sports in the precarious position of possibly losing Pacquiao to rival Showtime altogether.
Mayweather’s numerous legal entanglements are the excuses every Mayweather supporter uses for him failing to settle boxing’s pound-for-pound debate in the ring. They’ll tell you he can’t concentrate on training for a career-defining fight with unsettled cases hovering over him.
Perhaps, but you can bet more than Mayweather wagers on NBA games that if executives at HBO Sports guaranteed him eight figures to fight someone other than Pacquiao, Mayweather would find a way to clear his head and sign a contract. Thankfully, they’ve stopped giving Mayweather low-risk, high-reward work on their network.
Fight fans, unfortunately, still are paying for Mayweather’s mystifying disinterest in solidifying his legacy.
Pacquaio (53-3-2, 38 KOs) and Mayweather (41-0, 25 KOs) could’ve completed a trilogy by now. Consumers instead have been subjected to three one-sided Pacquiao victories, each devoid of competitive rounds, knockdowns and anything really resembling drama.
Pacquiao is blameless in embracing $20 million paydays. The Filipino superstar shouldn’t be faulted for being so much better than anyone Arum puts in front of him, either.
And he can’t make Mayweather fight him.
Assuming Mayweather continues his hiatus, Pacquiao probably will complete his trilogy against Juan Manuel Marquez in his next fight, Nov. 5 or 12. Marquez hasn’t been as effective at welterweight as he has been at featherweight and lightweight, the divisions in which their first two highly competitive matches were contested.
Still, he is the only opponent other than Mayweather most knowledgeable fight fans think can push Pacquiao.
If Marquez fails to do so in their third fight, feel free to blame Mayweather as much as anyone.
