Even though it's now old news and this post is a few weeks old, I posted on a forum my views on the Mayweather-Pacquaio boxing matchup that was an extremely highly anticipated fight. Now that fight is officially off and both fighters are moving on to different fights, there has been that speculation that boxing is "dead" again so in this post, I responded to those views:
I don’t believe, as a prior post stated, that boxing is dead at all. Granted, it is in one of its overall slumps, and there have been many of those over the years, but there are still many good fights out there and in fighters like Manny Pacquiao there are still superstars. If there are not many superstars then there are at least many talents who can generate attention and also make mostly great or very good fights like Israel Vasquez, Shane Mosley, Edwin Valero, Juan Manuel Marquez and Arthur Abraham. On the other hand, boxing has major problems. The heavyweight division is in a major slump, given a lack of major talents and the top two fighters who are brothers and most likely are not going to fight each other. Also no one wants to watch another Valuev-Ruiz fight! I am sure not too many people are over enthused about a Holyfield-Botha fight in 2010! I’ve always felt that boxing was damaged by the lack of it on network TV. Now the major fights are either $55 pay-per-view extravaganzas or on one of the major pay cable networks. There is no more ABC’s Wide World Of Sports, which used to be a big deal to me as a kid. The necessity of having cable has cut into boxing’s potential audience. Despite that all, boxing is alive and, if not as well as in some of its eras, then at least functioning and still the only sport, besides to a lesser degree UFC, that I watch or pay any kind of attention to.That said, on to the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight, it would be a shame if this fight were not to take place. This would very likely even top the Mayweather-De La Hoya fight in terms of pay per views ordered and it is a very compelling matchup. I hear a lot of people saying that they think Pacquiao would destroy Mayweather. I especially heard those kinds of comments when I was at a bar to watch the Pacquiao-Cotto fight. I guess its within the realm of possibilities but I don’t agree with that assessment. I even slightly favor Mayweather in this fight. If I had seen Mayweather come in and fight Marquez with any sign of ring rust when they fought recently, I probably would have favored Pacquiao if and when they fought, but Mayweather fought a pretty much textbook perfect fight against a top level opponent, the only complaint that could be had is that he didn’t knock him out. Marquez was coming from a lower weight class but so has Pacquiao and he has done tremendously (I even thought that Pacquiao would have been better served to take a tune up fight at welterweight, rather than jump right into the De La Hoya fight but he proved that it wasn’t necessary). Yeah, Pacquiao has a much better “warrior’s mentality” and one has to have respect for the quality of opponents that he is fighting one after another but Mayweather has quite a few solid wins against tough opposition as well even though he would probably happier not risking his face and taking more tune up fights. Pacquiao has shown tremendous power at welterweight, knocking a solid welterweight like Cotto around, a great chin and has one of the best cornermen in Freddie Roach. Mayweather can fights at some uncanny angles and I think his footwork can throw Pacquiao’s plan to bludgeon him off. Remember, Pacquiao had a hard time catching Cotto after pretty much winning the fight in the first five rounds when Cotto decided to survive, not win. Floyd is a master at the backpedaling and using his opponents’ forward movement as a trap to get some shots in and then continuing to throw his opponent off balance. With his excellent defensive skills, he can do this all night and win enough rounds to give him the decision even if he pisses off the crowd. Floyd also has more power than people give him credit for so he might end up nailing Pacquiao with some good shots, even if I doubt he would be able to knock Pacquiao out. If there is a KO, the chances are much higher that Manny will score it but I seriously doubt a top notch Mayweather will give him the chance to. I’ve watched a lot of Floyd’s matches that I have on videotape and on youtube and I am extremely impressed with the manner that he uses footwork and angles. It will be intriguing if the two camps sort out their issues and this fight does happen to see how it ends up. Will Pacquaio be able to gain the leverage he needs to get inside and hurt Floyd and sap his ability to stay in the fight or will Floyd make Pacquiao look like an angry bull fighting an experienced matador? If the fight doesn’t end up happening there are still plenty of interesting fights coming up, Mosley-Berto, possibly Hopkins-Green or Dawson, the end results of Showtime’s Super Six Series for the unified Super Middleweight championship and maybe in the future the winner of the Mosley-Berto fight to battle either Pacquiao or Mayweather.
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