In the world of sports, for athletes to take themselves to the level of
being an icon, they need rivals. In The National Basketball Association,
Larry Bird and Magic fed off of each other which led to The Boston
Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers combining for eight NBA Titles in the
80s. In The National Football League, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning have
gone at it over the last ten years to see who is the premiere
quarterback. In the sport of boxing, if you talk about Muhammad Ali then
you immediately think about Joe Frazier. We now fast forward to the
present and we are constantly teased over the notion that WBC
Welterweight Champion Floyd Mayweather and WBO Welterweight Champion
Manny Pacquiao will ever fight.
Pacquiao would take the fight, but Mayweather and his camp want the
blood testing for the fight done by The United States Anti-Doping
Agency. Mayweather feels that Pacquiao is taking performance-enhancing
drugs which has increased his ability to knockout his opponents being
that Pacquiao is small in stature. Drug testing by The USADA would allow
for random testing up until the fight. Pacquiao and his camp do not
want random testing and have requested at 14-day cut off leading up to
the bout. With both of fighters in their mid-30s it is time to make this
happen to further cement their legacies.
Mayweather will take on WBA Super Light Middleweight Champion Miguel
Cotto this Saturday in Las Vegas. If Mayweather wins he would have a
record of 43-0. For all accounts Mayweather could retire after the
fight, but he would have that cloud hanging over his head as boxing fans
would always wonder about him and Pacquiao never clashing in the ring.
The same thing goes for Pacquiao.
During the 80s, Sugar Ray Leonard was one the best middleweight
fighters. Leonard would have never been able to achieve that status if
had not fought Tommy Hearns, Roberto Duran, and Marvin Hagler. This was
also the case during the 70’s. Ali, Frazier, and George Foreman fought
each other in the heavyweight ranks. Win or lose they all went out
swinging.
To me both Pacquiao and Mayweather do not want to have the blemish on
their records for losing to the other man. Pacquiao already has three
losses during his impressive career, but what if were to lose to
Mayweather? As much smack as Mayweather talks, could he turn around and
face the press after taking a loss to Pacquiao?
The great ones such as Leonard and Ali never cared about losing because
they believed in their ability once they hit the ring. Both Mayweather
and Pacquiao could easily see $25 million for a bout between them. If
the fight is packaged properly, then we could see a trilogy of boxing
matches from these two boxers that could shatter pay-per-view records.
Day by a day the sport of mixed martial arts is nipping at the heels of
boxing for supremacy. Last month’s Ultimate Fighting Championship
pay-per-view between Rashad Evans and Jon Jones has an estimated 700,000
buys. To save the boxing’s popularity we need to see Mayweather and
Pacquiao get it on.
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