By Paul Cotton
Let me start off by saying I am firmly of the belief that Floyd Mayweather wants no part of a prime Manny Pacquiao. I am a massive Manny Pacquiao fan yet concur that Floyd Mayweather is undoubtedly the best pure boxer on the planet. I have seen many biased articles on this subject, including on this site, and will try to discuss this topic as impartially yet as realistically as possible.
The boxing grapevine is touting Mayweather to announce a fight with recent victor over Andre Berto, Robert Guerrero. Unfortunately there are a few reasons why this fight isn’t the fight that should be made nor the fight people want to see. Guerrero has only just gone up to the welterweight division and could quite comfortably fight at 140lbs or less. In the Berto fight he neglected his pure boxing style and continually came forward, roughing Berto up and winning the brawl on the inside. If Guerrero is to fight Mayweather we can be sure he won’t revert back to the ‘boxing’ style as nobody in their right mind coming up in weight would think they can out box Mayweather and therefore, if it happens, we know he’ll try and get as close to Mayweather as possible on the inside. The problem with that is Mayweather is far too quick and experienced and will simply out box Guerrero all night long probably heading to a very comfortable decision victory or even a late knock out. Sadly, despite these facts this may not stop the fight happening as even the most loyal Mayweather fan would acknowledge that Floyd when having a choice of opponent will tend to take the easier one, basically the one that he feels is most likely to keep that ‘0’ on his record. Regrettably Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer has already publicly announced preliminary discussions for the fight are taking place.
In terms of the fight of the century with Manny Pacquiao we need only look at the timing. Pacquiao is scheduled to fight Juan Manuel Marquez for the 4th time on December 8th. Mayweather has done this trick once before announcing he would in fact face Marquez just before Pacquiao’s May 2009 with Hatton, just as the boxing world was clamouring for a Mayweather Pacquiao bout. If history repeats itself and Mayweather announces a fight this week or even just after Pacquiao Marquez 4 we can be sure he is ducking Pacquiao. I don’t think anyone in their right mind could accuse Pacquiao of ducking Mayweather after his recent compromises, namely willing to accept only 45% of the purse and blood testing whenever Mayweather wants it.
Unquestionably THE and perhaps only fight people want to see Mayweather in is the Pacquiao one. However, there are other options for the man who claims to only give what the fans want to see; those options are in the form of Canelo Alvarez or Sergio Martinez. Canelo is a 154lb fighter and Martinez has publically stated he would be willing to drop down to 154lb from 160lb to meet Mayweather, therefore there is no problems making those fights in terms of weight. Also in terms of revenue one would think they’d make at least what the Cotto fight did if not more, so the monetary incentive is there for Floyd. In terms of the outcomes in my personal opinion Mayweather would find a way to win against Canelo although it would probably be the toughest fight of Mayweather’s career and would lose to Martinez just because of his size and freakish stamina. That is why these fights are unlikely to be made!
Whenever a man refuses to fight someone when they can cement their legacy with a victory and earn nearly $100m in the process you can be sure they are scared of them, or at the very least scared of losing. Hopefully the Guerrero rumours are simply that, rumours and that if it isn’t Pacquiao, Canelo or Sergio will be getting a call. A lot of the theories regarding the Mayweather Pacquiao saga could well be answered this week. No doubt Floyd is praying on a Marquez victory come December 8th and who knows maybe his prayers will be answered – if not, for the sake of boxing and the millions that buy boxing PPV after boxing PPV let’s hope Floyd steps up and gives the fans truly what they want to see.
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