A day before the fight between Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito, someone asked me who would win between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
“Mayweather would destroy him.” I said.
“I have been watching boxing for over 15 years and Mayweather is one of the best, if not the best, all around fighters I have ever seen.” I then decided to add.
After watching Pac-Man beat the living shit out of Margarito for 12 rounds, and literally break his face in the process (he required surgery after the fight), I have had a change of heart.
Pacquiao (52-3-2 38 KO’s) didn’t just deliver an ass whipping for the ages on Saturday night, he delivered a message as well. A message that ‘Pretty Boy’ Floyd surely received wherever he was watching the fight.
Mayweather (41-0 25 KO’s) can keep coming up with excuses as to why this fight can not be negotiated. He wanted Olympic style blood tests to be taken, which would mean tests taken on the same day of the fight. Pacquiao wouldn’t agree for fear of being dizzy during the fight. Both sides went back and forth on scheduled test dates but the whole thing fell apart.
Months later, negotiations heated up again, this time the issue was urine testing. Pacquaio agreed to be tested up to 14 days before the fight and all that was needed was Mayweather’s signature for the fight to happen.
Mayweather never signed….and now I know why.
Pac-Man pitched a shutout in his bout with Margarito, winning every round en route to winning his 10th title in a record 8 different divisions. By the 11th round, he was begging the referee to stop the fight because Margarito’s face looked like a pile of ground up meat. The feat was even more incredible considering he was giving up 17lbs and almost 5 inches to Margarito (38-7 27 KO’s)
Mayweather has a perfect record. Rocky Marciano is one of only 6 championship boxers to retire with a perfect record (49-0 43 KO’s) and you know Mayweather is fully aware of that select company. His legacy is as good as it gets right now having won 9 world titles in 5 different weight classes and winning a bronze medal at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
The fact that Mayweather seems to be ducking Pacquiao shows just how great a fighter Pac-Man is. Mayweather has never shied away from opponents and his list of victims is as impressive as his resume with wins over Shane Mosley, Oscar De La Hoya, Zab Judah, Arturo Gatti, Diego Corrales, Rickey Hatton and Jose Luis Castillo.
Today’s boxing is different though. Fighters usually fight once a year, if that, and the mega fights are few and far between. I long for the days when Mike Tyson would fight someone in an alley…or on the way home from another fight.
Maybe Floyd isn’t ducking him.
Maybe his promoters are interfering too much with a possible fight for the ages.
Or maybe he just knows what I now know and doesn’t want his ‘Pretty Boy’ face to get ugly.
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