Abraham and Cloud praise Pacquiao
If it’s the case that the boxing world will only ever get the public relations version of a bout between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, there can be no doubt who the winner is. Simply by keeping the pressure on Mayweather to fight, Pacquiao has come out a winner. And by virtue of doing the opposite, Mayweather’s reputation, by most accounts, has been irrevocably tarnished. After all, how long can you claim you’re the best when you’re so obviously avoiding the other guy people call ‘the best?’ And how long can you stay on vacation when that other guy is publicly calling you out and questioning your manhood?
Money has nothing to do with this. And that’s the problem: money has everything to do with it for a guy who calls himself Floyd “Money” Mayweather. Unable to look beyond the financial scope and how much his next pay check will be, Floyd will always be cast as a guy who cared more about financial earnings than historical ones. And that’s not only his hubris, but his hammartia too.
Recently more fighters decided to weigh on the Pacquiao–Mayweather debate, and two in particular sided with Pac-man. Tavoris Cloud, IBF light heavyweight champion, said: “Pacquiao is good. Pacquiao takes challenges and that’s why I like him. He moves up and fights the best fighters in the division. I’m all for him. I’m with him.”
Tavoris, who recently signed on with legendary promoter Don King, put in his two cents on the Mayweather question in light of Mayweather’s recent interactions with King. “Hey, if it can be done, Don is the one to do it. If the rest fail, Don may be the man to do it. He put on the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ and he put on some of the biggest fights in boxing history so I wouldn’t put it past him.”
German superstar fighter Arthur Abraham, who has a fight coming up with Carl Froch, said of Pacquiao: “I take my hat off to him. He’s such a great phenomenal fighter. He’s won everything there is to win and he’s been so impressive.”
He continued: “All Pacquiao has to do now is to beat Mayweather. That’s what’s left for him and it would be very good for him to beat him, because he’s a phenomenal fighter and I have a lot of respect for him.”
While discussing the possibility, Abraham finally admitted that he didn’t think Pacquiao would win a bout between the two. “I think Mayweather will win this fight,” he speculated. “He’s such a big talent, the type of talent you get once every hundred years. He’s got a big mouth, but he can follow it up inside the ring. So he’s a very, very good boxer.”
On October 2nd, Abraham will take on Carl Froch in the third stage of the popular Showtime Super Six Boxing Classic Tournament. The tournament, which features six super-middleweight top ranked fighters, is an eliminator for the WBA and WBC super middleweight titles. Both Abraham and Froch are coming off losses, though Abraham currently has one more point more than Froch.
The bout is expected to be exciting and heavy-handed, with both fighters going back and forth and standing toe-to-toe. On the one hand Abraham hasn’t showed many signs of relenting. He knocked out Jermaine Taylor in the first stage of the tournament, and was disqualified in the second for hitting Andre Dirrell after he went down. Froch has fought hard matches against Dirrell and Mikkel Kessler. He stated recently that if he loses he may retire, as he didn’t get into the sport for that sake.
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