Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather should be fighting each other this spring. They should have fought each other two years ago. They should have fought each other last year. Instead, they?ve been fighting proxies ? substitutes with names big enough to fatten both fighters? bank accounts, while the bloom commences to fade from the Pacquiao-Mayweather rose.
The proxy wars continue this spring, with Mayweather going up against Miguel Cotto on May 5, while Pacquiao recently inked a deal to take on undefeated junior-welterweight star Timothy Bradley on June 9.
In the previous installment of the proxy wars last year, Mayweather ended up looking better, handing a KO defeat to young slugger Victor Ortiz. The win was marred by the fact that Mayweather essentially sucker-punched Ortiz while the latter had his hands down and was looking at the referee. Still, all indications were that Mayweather was on his way to winning the fight anyway.
Meanwhile, Pacquiao scored a win over Juan Manuel Marquez in their third meeting. But Pac-man?s victory was controversial as well ? not because of questionable tactics, but because many observers believed Marquez, not Pacquiao, should have gotten the decision. Given his struggles in a bout he was favored to win, Pacquiao did not look like a fighter who could beat Mayweather ? who beat Marquez handily a few years ago.
However, in his choice of opponent for his next proxy war, Pacquiao comes out looking better than Mayweather. Although he lacks Pacquiao?s experience, Bradley is still a seasoned fighter with a record of 28-0 with 12 stoppages. The Ring magazine rates him at the top of the 140-lb division, and at No. 9 pound-for-pound. Marquez, by the way, is also in the pound-for-pound Top 10, sitting at No. 6. Say what you will about Pacquiao?s performance against Marquez, but the Filipino superstar is at least willing to risk fighting a young, hungry, skilful competitor who will not be a pushover. And, as they are both basically junior welters fighting as welters, there should not be any problem with a catch-weight, a practice for which Pacquiao has been criticized.
Cotto poses nowhere near the risk for Mayweather that Bradley does for Pacquiao. They?ll be fighting at junior-middleweight, though Mayweather could insist on a catchweight that he would likely proceed to ignore at the weigh-in. Cotto is still a top-level performer, as he showed when he got his revenge KO over Antonio Margarito last year. But the effects of the drubbings Cotto absorbed at the hands of Margarito and later Pacquiao cannot be discounted. Of course, it would be folly for Mayweather to take Cotto lightly. But Floyd?s follies have occurred out of, not in, the ring. A 90-day stint in the slammer for domestic violence will be waiting for him after he steps out of the ring on May 5.
If both Pacquiao and Mayweather emerge victorious, Pacquiao will still hold the proxy edge because of the higher quality of his opponent. If one of them loses ? or, unthinkably, if they both do ? then watch out, because boxing?s status quo will be shaken to its foundations, and no one will give a damn anymore about a Pacquiao-Mayweather dream fight.
Interestingly, Sugar Shane Mosley, a proxy who was easily defeated by both Mayweather and Pacquiao, will be on the undercard of Mayweather-Cotto. He will be taking on undefeated sensation Saul ?Canelo? Alvarez for the latter?s WBC junior-middleweight title. Although the 40-year-old Mosley has not done well in his most recent fights, he may still have enough tricks left in his bag to flummox his less-experienced foe. But Mosley has been looking like a proxy of himself lately, and that doesn?t bode well for his chances against a young lion like Canelo.
Charles R. Saunders is the author of several books including Sweat and Soul: The Saga of Black Boxers in the Maritimes from the Halifax Forum to Caesars Palace, as well as the Imaro series of fantasy/adventure novels. Considered by many to be one of the leading authorities on boxing in Canada, he is the current Vice-President of Boxing for the Society of North American Sports Historians and Researchers. His novel, Damballa, which centers around a fictional heavyweight title bout, is available at www.gopulp.info.
