Friday, January 01, 2010

Mayweather vs. Pacquiao

The fight of the century has turned into a bunch of drama and trash-talking -- with a legal scenario for added titillation.

Your guess is good as mine on whether the boxing match between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao will take place on March 13 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Many are wondering whether tickets to Manny Paquiao fight will actually result in an event.

Let's back it up a bit to examine the issues.

  • The Mayweather Jr. camp is accusing Pacquiao, the pride of the Philippines, of taking performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). The accusations seem to come out of nowhere.
  • Mayweather demanded Olympic-level drug testing for the bout (which includes 6-7 random blood tests before the fight, which can occur 24/7) despite the fact that the Nevada boxing commission already has drug-testing guidelines.
  • Pacquiao agreed to blood tests (boxing usually only does urine tests) but not the number that Mayweather demanded. (Pacquiao allegedly is not fond of blood tests & thinks it's unnatural and weakens him).
  • Pacquiao has filed a defamation suit.

Floyd Mayweather Sr. and the fighter's uncle and trainer, Roger Mayweather, have been running their mouths to any sportswriter and broadcaster who will listen. According to the Los Angeles Times' Bill Dwyre:

It really got ugly when Pacquiao trainer, Freddie Roach, who also took a lot of punches over the years but seems to have retained better clarity, said, in perhaps the sports put-down quote of the year, "This is all coming from Floyd Mayweather Sr., a disgruntled trainer who couldn't prepare his fighter [Ricky Hatton] to last past the second round against Manny. Just because he's a convicted drug dealer doesn't make him a drug expert."


I've heard enough talk. I don't pretend to be an expert on boxing, but I know when I've heard a bunch of baloney. To understand the issues better, I turned to Ishmael, my go-to person on all things related to boxing. This is how Ish sees the drama:

I think it's a tactic by Floyd to:
  • get into Pacquiao head
  • cast suspicion around Pacquiao's achievements in the fight falls through or in the chance the Pacquiao is victorious
  • generate buzz to make the fight more lucrative

Makes sense to me.

Clearly, a lot of money is at stake. Pacquiao and Mayweather Jr. are great boxers and have nothing to prove to anyone. I'm in no position to say who would win. Fans seem to be split evenly on who would take home the prize.

Without question, this would be the boxing event of the year. According to projections, the match has the potential to become the highest grossing fight in boxing history. If I could, I'd certainly go, and I'd take Ishmael with me.

But when will the soap opera end? Stay tuned.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Mayweather and his family of crooks are doing whatever they can to avoid the full onslaught of Pacquiao's dominance. Mayweather is a fraud. To be the best, you gotta beat the best, with verve. Think Ali, Leonard, Robinson. Does Fraud Mayweather really think he belongs in that company??? He needs to get his head examined. He's too easy to dislike. Poor bastard.

Shi said...

I don't usually read this category of posts Deb S. But let me confess that you write in such a way that you make anything not only readable but enjoyable. You have a great style. Wish I had some thing close to that.

Deb Sistrunk Nelson said...

Pleaver: Tell me how you really feel about these two guys. LOL Seriously, thanks for stopping by. Come back and bring your friends. ;-)

Shi: I learned from you. Thanks. :-)

Mad Sam ("The brown eyed, handsome man"!) said...

I'm going to beat the snot out of both bums if they don't put on a great fight!

Mad Sam ("The brown eyed, handsome man"!) said...

I was just talking to a friend of mine that lives in the heart of Manila... She feels like I do but is hoping that Pacquiao wins the fight, of course. I respect the national pride that the Philippian people have toward this fight, and I want to cheer Pacquiao on, but my sense of national pride holds me to Mayweather's corner in this one. I am happy to see a Pinoy doing this well in the competition because the people of the Philippines are a , truly, wonderful and prideful people that the US should do better by economically. If we must outsource jobs, they should go to the children of the people that fought and died alongside the US in World War 2. Remember Bataan? Now, you 2 bums get busy and beat the crap out of each other and put on a great show for the people that are so proud of you both!