Floyd Mayweather could fight Manny Pacquiao, but now no one cares

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/dec/13/floyd-mayweather-manny-pacquiao

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Floyd Mayweather, boxing’s ultimate control freak, is teasing Manny Pacquiao yet again. The WBC welterweight champion claims he “absolutely” wants what was once the most anticipated fixture in sport to happen, but says it has to be on Showtime, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on 2 May, thwarting the ambitions of his former paymasters at HBO and those of every other ambitious welterweight in the business, notably the winner of a supposed audition between Amir Khan and Devon Alexander in the same ring on Saturday night in Las Vegas.

After so many aborted attempts in the past five years, cynics are entitled to believe Mayweather-Pacquiao at boxing HQ on Cinco de Mayo weekend will coincide with the reappearance of Jesus Christ and Elvis in a spaceship in the middle of the Las Vegas Strip, accompanied by Frank Sinatra singing My Way. That is pretty much the soundtrack of “Money” Mayweather’s life. The shrewd gambler takes notice of no one but his bookmaker, who might reasonably offer 4-6 on the fight happening.

Pacquiao’s promoter, Bob Arum, who had a hand in 29 of Floyd’s fights until they split eight years ago is, apparently, ready to talk. After his man retained the WBO version of the welterweight title in Macau two weeks ago (with rumoured pay-per-view hits a meagre 400,000-plus), Uncle Bob said: “No more excuses. I will sit next to my phone starting tomorrow and wait for a call that will change the course of boxing history. There’s no reason not to get it done. The fight should happen and all the nonsense has to cease.”

While we can’t be sure if the phone has rung, it seems there is at least a dime in the slot. However, only a fool would believe the nonsense has ceased. When Arum says he is ready to talk, he means to HBO, who were miffed when Mayweather walked two years ago. Suits don’t quickly forget such slights. Bob and Floyd, meanwhile, have swapped countless insults, writs and willy-waving press conferences for nearly five years, like emotionally repressed adolescents. Having a big head and a small mind is not uncommon in boxing, but these guys are seriously stretching the stereotype.

This bout is not only the most anticipated event in boxing since 1971, when Muhammad Ali fought Joe Frazier in the Fight of the Century at Madison Square Garden, it also has become the most infuriating discussion in boxing since Roy Jones Jr (41) and Bernard Hopkins (45) finally agreed to a rematch in 2010.

That gruelling, sub-standard match arrived 17 years after their first fight, even though they had long vied to be regarded as pound-for-pound No1 in the world (like Mayweather and Pacquiao) and it generated a miserable 150,000 PPV sales. Fewer than 7,000 fans paid to watch two old men square up at last in the Mandalay Bay. It was rumoured that after the winner Hopkins had taken his guaranteed $3.5m, loser Jones ended up fighting for virtually nothing.

That is the gamble Mayweather and Arum have taken by their mutual obduracy: turning a lay-down misère into a turkey.

They know that, if it happens, in all likelihood it will provide only a sliver of the drama of the memorable collision between Ali and Frazier in the real Garden 43 years ago. More likely, this one will resemble Jones-Hopkins II – which happened only after Hopkins saw Danny Green stop Jones inside a round the year before – an echo of Pacquiao’s dramatic fall at the feet of Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012. Mayweather was 36 years old when he watched that fight, 42-0 and still with HBO. Beforehand (he claims), he phoned Pacquiao and offered him $40m – which the Filipino rejected, pointing out total revenues would likely be $150m. Pacquiao proposed a 45-45 split, with the winner to take the hanging 10%, but those odds did not excite even Floyd’s gambling instincts.

Two years on, Mayweather is still phenomenal but noticeably slower, and his record stands at 47-0, two short of equalling Rocky Marciano’s fabled mark of 49-0. Pacquiao is 35 years old with a 57-5-2 cv – and is slightly more degraded in skill. When Sugar Ray Leonard fought Tommy Hearns for the undisputed world welterweight title at Caesar’s Palace in 1981, Ray was 21, Tommy 25; Leonard earned $11million, Hearns $8million – and they were worth every cent.

A lot of fans remember Ali-Frazier I and Leonard-Hearns I, genuine super fights. How many of them will pay $70 or more to watch damaged goods masquerading as their former selves – for the second time in four years?

Five years ago I would have picked Pacquiao to win – maybe. Now? Mayweather. But, really, it no longer matters and, like most sensible fans, I don’t much care.