Pacquiao vs. Mayweather: A Fire Subsiding – Boxing Special
It has been more than two years since the possibility of a fight between the current WBC welterweight titlist Floyd Mayweather and former WBO titlist Manny Pacquiao was announced. However, until now, nothing has been clarified by both the camps whether the fight will ever happen or not.
Fans have waited enough for the showdown and now the excitement is slowly fading. In their recent matches, both fighters exhibited signs of aging, making fans even more disappointed. Right now, it is more or less a fight that fans do not really care for anymore, since they know both the fighters are not at their very best anymore.
There was a time when Pacquiao was beating the best in the business and Mayweather was fulfilling his dream of retiring as an unbeaten fighter. Both stars looked promising and indestructible but no more.
Floyd Mayweather’s last fight was against Miguel Cotto on May 5 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. While most fans believed Mayweather would take down the Puerto Rican fighter in a blow, the unbeaten American had to ‘survive’ his way through to win via decision.
Cotto is the same fighter who was thrashed badly by Pacquiao in 2008. Considering the fact that even Cotto is old now, he should have been a matter of minutes for Mayweather. Instead, the WBC champion took his time to kill his opponent, which is not his usual trait. Mayweather’s aging signs was pretty evident, he was not as fast as he used to be and it was the very first time his nose and mouth bled. Sad but true!
On the other hand, Pacquiao’s last match was against unbeaten American fighter Timothy Bradley in defence of his WBO title. The Filipino proud unleashed his spree of punches at Bradley right from the start. He was close to a knockout win but Bradley evaded it. Unfortunately, the fight ended up in a controversial split decision victory for Bradley, shocking fans, fellow fighters and analysts all around the world.
The decision was reviewed by the World Boxing Organisation, and Pacquiao was declared the winner. However, the organisation made it clear that they can only order a rematch and cannot reverse the decision made by the judges at ringside. Unlucky Pacquiao had to settle with the bitter truth of his title being taken away by an underdog.
Now, Pacquiao is scheduled to fight on November 10, and his opponent will definitely not be Mayweather, as the WBC champion recently was released from jail and so he is not prepared enough to take on the show.
Even Bob Arum of Top Rank, Pacquiao’s promoter, is hoping for both the fighters to collide so he could make some money. Nevertheless, Arum knows it will not be possible this year and so he is suggesting a rematch against Cotto for Pacquiao.
Similarly, Freddie Roach is hopeful that whenever Pacquiao and Mayweather collide, the Filipino will have an upper hand.
Here is what Roach has to say regarding the showdown:
“Would Manny beat Floyd? You bet. The way to beat Floyd to outwork him every minute of every round. Manny is the only one capable of executing that game plan. Activity kills Mayweather. You need to stay busy against him and not let him dictate the pace by slowing down the fight. Southpaws are his other weakness. Manny is just a bad combination for Floyd to fight. If it would bring Floyd into the ring, I'd agree to have Manny fight him right handed.”
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