Fresh off his second very narrow victory over Juan Manuel Marquez (they also fought to a draw), WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao is once again being asked ?when are you going to fight Floyd Mayweather?? The more approrpriate question is ?when are you going to take ownership of your career?? This raises the issue of who is, and who should be calling the shots: Pacquiao, a duly elected Philippine Congressman, or his promoter, Bob Arum? Up until now, the risk-reluctant Mayweather and the money-hungry Arum have bullied Pacquiao out of this era-defining fight in different ways. Mayweather has been able to take advantage of the fact that Pacquiao is a classy, humble nice guy with limited English proficiency by portraying Pacquiao as a reluctant warrior who cheated his way to the top with performance enhancers. Mayweather has stated time and time again that Pacquiao has never demanded the fight. While Pacquiao has expressed a willingness to fight Mayweather, he always defers to Arum, who, thanks to the money generated from Pacquiao’s winning streak, appears more than happy to keep Pacquaio away from Mayweather.
Mayweather is clever. He knows that Pacquiao is not a trash talker and it?s not his style to call out opponents. Arum knows that up until now, through his actions, Mayweather has shown he has wanted no part of Pacquiao. This has allowed Arum to continue to select Pacquiao?s opponents from his own promotional roster, which of course means more money for the Bobster. Arum was disgusted with Mayweather?s game playing in the past, including denying that negotiations for the Pacquiao ever took place, something that defied logic. More recently, Arum rightfully took umbrage at Mayweather dictating the date and venue for his next fight and cryptically having his staff say his next opponent would be ?the little fella?. With this background, Arum is not going to make a huge effort on his own to make the fight at this point.
But now, Mayweather might be a little more willing to make the big fight after seeing Pacquiao struggle against Marquez on Saturday. The public is still clamoring for the fight, so it?s time for Pacquiao to do something that is out of character. He needs to call a press conference and announce to the world he wants to face Mayweather, and no one else next. He needs to say ?Floyd, no more game playing– let?s fight and give the fans what they have wanted to see for years. Let?s do this for the sport of boxing! We can split everything 50/50 and I will undergo random blood testing up until a week before and on the night of the fight?.
In private, Pacquiao needs to tell Arum that if he doesn?t do everything in his power to make the fight happen, he will simply retire and be a full time politician in the Philippines. This will cause Arum to shit his pants. Pacquiao needs to take full ownership of his career and make it clear that he controls his destiny, and not Arum or anyone else. By doing this, he will put some healthy fear into the heart of Arum, as well as back Mayweather into a corner big time! Mayweather has enormous pride and any remaining reluctance on his part to face Pacquiao will be trumped by his ego and he will be forced to take the fight. He will literally be unable to show his face in public if he doesn?t fight Pacquiao after this occurs. Even his most hardcore fans will turn on him and no amount of clever spinning and/or smokescreens that he and his loyalist, Leonard Ellerbe can cook up will be enough to stop the avalanche.
