The big bout has been put off for several reasons, but it’s twists in Pacquiao’s defamation lawsuit against Mayweather over drug-use allegations that show there’s still a bumpy road ahead.
As boxing awaits the Fight of the Century, a big question remains.
Which century?
It has been a couple of years since the matchup between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. became obvious and compelling. Now, with the passage of time, fans are beginning to see Pacquiao-Mayweather like a racing greyhound sees the mechanical rabbit. It’s frustratingly elusive. It’s out there, but they can’t quite catch it.
Pacquiao is the most recent reincarnation of Rocky Marciano or Joe Louis. In his last half-dozen fights, opponents have come, puffed up their chests, talked trash and left battered and bagged. Boxing calls him the best pound-for-pound fighter in the sport. He is its biggest attraction, biggest name, biggest everything.
Beyond boxing, he is also bit of a pied piper. He was elected to the Philippine Congress in May of 2010, and, for all appearances, has made good on many of his election promises to help the poor and needy. Just last week, he used his role as a spokesman for Hewlett-Packard to get a donation of 2,000 computers to the schools of his district in the southern Philippine province of Sarangani.
If Mayweather Jr. has similar saintly tendencies, they aren’t as apparent. That is, unless the poor and needy of his hometown of Las Vegas get their charitable contributions at casino nightclubs.
Still, his 41-0 record in the ring speaks to boxing fans, who can find a way to ignore arrogance and quarterly run-ins with police and security guards as long as his fists and feet are still fast. This is, after all, boxing, not a Sunday bake sale.
The big fight has been put off for several reasons, and certainly several more that only promoters Bob Arum (Pacquiao) and Al Haymon (Mayweather) know. There were Mayweather’s various pending court cases, then his accusations of Pacquiao’s use of performance-enhancing drugs, as well as Pacquiao’s refusal to have blood tests close to a fight. There certainly were disputes over the split of the purse. Pacquiao is the big dog in the sport, but Mayweather still barks at his own stature.
