Manny Pacquio/Floyd Mayweather one in the same!
I normally try and stay away from the whole Floyd vs Manny discussion because it will never be settled. If they got in the ring on May 5th, depending on the outcome, there would still be people on both sides that would have an excuse. I’m writing this because I am a fan of both fighters and I hate when I read another writers blog and they are talking down on one or the other with watered down opinions they are trying to pass off as facts. The truth of the matter is these are people that are writing from emotions, but to be a successful writer that has the fans in mind when writing, they would stick to what is known and make sure your opinions are displayed as just that, “Opinions!”
I have sat back and analyzed the whole Mayweather/Pacquio fiasco, and after looking deep into it they are not that much different. Boxing is filled with politics and who ever draws more people in gets to call the shots. Think about it like this; haven’t both fighters given their opponents a very small piece of the fights, while they both took healthy portions? They can do this most of the time because the other fighter is probably still getting the biggest payday of their career and/or they know if they pull off the win they take some of the marketability and their stock goes up. Money is the focus of both fighters whether we think so or not, and even if Pacquio looks at money less, unfortunately the guy calling the shots (Pacquio’s promoter Bob Arum) like money probably more than Mayweather, so we get to the same conclusion either way.
When we start talking about opponent selection, this is when Floyd gets jumped on for taking the easier road, but Pacquio has done it as well. After his second fight against Juan Manuel Marquez, he took an easy fight against David Diaz, but since Diaz was the naturally bigger fighter, they looked at it as being a challenge, but if you seen the fight you know it clearly was not. He then lands a fight with Oscar De La Hoya, but he was clearly over the hill and he also made him drop down to a weight he hadn’t been at in about 7 years. Now let’s be honest, Pacquio’s style gave Ricky Hatton no shot at winning that fight and Pacquio and his camp knew this. The Joshua Clottey fight was a joke, as well as the fight he had with Antonio Margarito, who was coming off a suspension. I think the toughest fight he has had since he made it all the way up to the weight he fights at now is possibly Miguel Cotto, who he made fight at a catch weight, even though they were fighting for Miguel’s welterweight belt!?! It’s the “WELTERWEIGHT BELT,” So why did they make him fight at a weight under that?
[quote author=”- Phillip Harris”]If a fighter wins a belt that belongs to a certain weight class, the fighter should only be able to defend it in that weight class, not a catch weight![/quote]
I would get into the fights Floyd has taken it easy in, but more people than not already knows, but they are both guilty of it. They both fought some of the same fighters, with Pacquio fighting them after they were beaten by Floyd. The only thing that I seen that made Pacquio’s fight more appealing to casual fans is their size advantage over him, but you need more than size to beat Pacquio. But they both have beat some great fighters on their way up, with Pacquio having more wars. When it is all said and done, both are great and will eventually be remembered just as that because they are one in the same.
I miss the old days when the best fighters fought each other because they wanted to prove they were the best fighter, not the better money maker. This is what boxing is all about right now especially with all these championship belts they’ve created. If this was back in the day, we would have already seen a lot of great fights like: Pacquio Floyd, of course, Pacquio/Floyd vs Paul Williams, Hopkins vs Jones 2 would not have taken 16 years to make, we would have seen Bowe vs Lewis, Andre Berto would have been matched up with both Floyd and Pacquio instead of fighters like Joshua Clottey or Baldomir. This is a problem in this sport all across the board, but we’re talking about two of the best in this era, so it’s going to be magnified times 10.
