He will put his ‘Money’ were his mouth is – 22/9/11
Sport is all about opinion. Floyd Mayweather Junior is in my opinion the greatest fighter of his generation. However despite dominating his sport of boxing for 16 years and becoming a nine time world champion at various weight divisions there is always one question that keeps following him. The question revolves around one man, Manny Pacquiao.
The negotiations for Mayweather and Pacquiao are as infuriating a sports story as any reporter will cover, or as any fan will ever read about. The two sides negotiate, then, one denies the negotiations ever happened. They come to a fundamental agreement on key issues like money, site and weight but are divided over blood and urine testing. It is Mayweather’s camp insisting on the random testing which leads those who are not altogether erudite to believe Floyd Junior is running scared.
Pacquiao began his professional career fighting at a weight of 98 pounds which is 7 pounds under the required minimum to make the light flyweight regulations. He is now a 10 time world champion at 8 different weight classes, the first man ever to do this, at his heaviest winning the WBC light middleweight Championship at 150 pounds.
How is this humanly possible?
A naturally small Filipino guy increases his bodyweight by 50% over a period of 5 years, all the while never losing a fight. In the previous 10 years of his career he lost on 3 separate occasions without really fighting anybody of note. He then refuses to do random drug testing in preparation for one of the greatest fighters of all time. If you were Floyd Mayweather would you just put this down to coincidence? Or would you think ‘Hang on, there’s something not quite right here!’
Unless this saga is sorted I fear that there will always be a ‘yeah but … Floyd never fought Manny’ tag lurking over a phenomenal champion, which is totally unfair.
Mayweather has never ducked a challenge, always taking elite fighters at the peak of their powers. He beat Ricky Hatton when the Mancunian was undefeated. He gave away 10 pounds in a fight with 6 division world champion Oscar De La Hoya and beat him. Pacquiao took on a demoralised Hatton after Ricky’s fight with Floyd. He fought De La Hoya after Mayweather had done the business on the Mexican the year previous. Juan Marquez and Shane Mosley, the Filipino’s last two fights, had both previously been beaten by the ‘Pretty Boy’.
When faced with the actual facts surrounding this saga and not just the cosmetics you are made to believe about a mouthy undefeated champion, it’s extremely hard not conclude that Mayweather isnt the one shying away from the challenge.
