Let’s get this out of the way right up front. Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, Jr., Bob Arum, Oscar De La Hoya and more all share blame for Pacquiao and Mayweather not stepping into the ring to face each other. But there has been quite the shift in terms of public perception in the ongoing war of words and actions between the two over the past six months.
Somewhere along the line it was Floyd, the convicted criminal and obnoxiously cocky fighter, who became the good guy while the smiling, singing Pacquiao has participated in the assassination of his character by the coward Bob Arum.
Floyd had a May 5 date booked in Vegas and made it known that he was ready to make the fight with Pacquiao. Bluster or not, he put the ball in Manny and Top Rank’s court. But then it seemed that his jail conviction would get in the way of the fight. Bob Arum showed up after the conviction and said the following (via BoxingScene):
“It’s not an option,” Arum said. “Manny is going to fight in May or June and if Floyd is available and Manny is successful, we’ll fight Floyd in November. We are not going to operate Manny’s career on what if, what if, what if. That doesn’t make any business sense.”
That was January 5. On January 6, Floyd was able to get his sentence delayed to June 1, allowing him to keep his May 5 date. Given that Arum said Manny would fight in May or June, that had to mean the fight was a
