Floyd Mayweather Jr.
So now the boxing match that the world has wanted to see is finally coming to fruition. The two best welterweight fighters of this era have been Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Pacquiao and Mayweather will now meet on May 2 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in what should be the biggest purse in the history of the sport of boxing. Six years of on-again, off-again negotiations between Mayweather’s camp and Pacquiao’s representatives are a thing of the past now as it is finally time to determine who is the best welterweight of this era. Aside from fragile negotiations, it was mainly the overall politics that have deprived boxing fans from seeing this long awaited super fight.
Part of the initial holdup was over drug testing as Mayweather wanted Pacquiao to submit to Olympic-style drug testing. Olympic-style drug testing would mean that Pacquiao would be subject to random testing leading up to the fight. This became an issue as Mayweather has long suspected Pacquiao of using performance-enhancing drugs due to the fact that the Filipino born fighter maintained tremendous punching power and speed in spite of the fact that he moved up into different weight classes. Mayweather’s public criticism of Pacquiao led to a lawsuit on Pacquiao’s part which led to both sides settling out of court in 2012. Then there was the haggling over the money for the bout as Mayweather wanted a bigger cut. And once you factor in that Mayweather no longer likes to do business with Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum, this fight was put of the back burner for far too long.
Manny Pacquiao
So instead of seeing Mayweather and Pacquiao clash a few years ago, we instead had to watch each pugilist showcase their talents against someone else. Since the negotiations went south in 2009, Pacquiao lost two fights: once to Timothy Bradley and a technical knockout at the hands of his longtime rival Juan Manuel Marquez. Mayweather on the other hand has been able to keep his unblemished record intact which has been highlighted by him schooling Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in 2013. But for both Mayweather and Pacquiao, it is becoming extremely difficult for each of them expect the viewing public to fork over $60-$70 dollars for each of their pay-per-view matches where you typically know what the outcome will be before the fighters touch gloves. Boxing fans were not interested in seeing Pacquiao fight Marquez for a fifth time and they weren’t going to break their necks to see Mayweather take on Amir Khan or touch gloves with Miguel Cotto again which means that it is time for these two to get it on.
Subsequently Pacquiao has agreed to all of the terms that Mayweather wanted. Pacquiao is on board with the drug testing as well as taking 40 percent of the purse as opposed to Mayweather’s 60 percent. Pacquiao will be the first fighter to hit the ring and the bout will take place in Mayweather’s backyard of Las Vegas. The buildup to this fight will be immense as tickets sold out in a matter of minutes when the fight was announced and you can expect a who’s who from the entertainment world to be in attendance that Saturday night in May. Being that Mayweather has an exclusive contract to fight on Showtime while Pacquiao is with HBO, both networks will work together to show the pay-per-view extravaganza which could cost fight fans $100 dollars to view.
For Muhammad Ali to earn the mantle of being “The Greatest”, he needed Joe Frazier. And when the 1980’s became the golden era of the middleweight division, Sugar Ray Leonard needed Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns, and Marvelous Marvin Hagler to bring out the best in him. Come May it will be the punching power of Pacquiao versus the speed and craftiness of Mayweather. The people that want to see the cocky Mayweather served a slice of humble pie will undoubtedly be rooting for Pacquiao while the fans of “Money” want to see the unblemished record remain intact. Pacquiao is 36-years old while Mayweather will turn 38 tomorrow. But the age of both fighters shouldn’t prevent us from witnessing a good bout. Sometimes good things come to those who wait and in this case fight fans are finally getting what they have wanted for a very long time.
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