The Timothy Bradley vs. Devon Alexander fight showed how much boxing needs Floyd Mayweather. Manny Pacquiao is great but as he continues to fight opponents who aren’t deserving it becomes apparent that while he is great, boxing fans need more.
Why they haven’t fought is up for discussion, but many people feel the burden of this mega fight not happening falls on Mayweather’s shoulders.
Mayweather has been quiet about the situation, but he opens up a bit to Fighthype.com on various subjects including Manny Pacquiao. Here are the most interesting quotes.
On fighting Pacquiao:
I really don’t have nothing against Manny Pacquiao. I think the people make it more than what it really is because I think it will be one of the biggest fights in boxing history. I think that any fight that I’m involved in will always be a mega-fight. It’s just so much behind this fight which will make this fight truly unbelievable as far as numbers and as far as people tuning in to watch the event; it’s a very huge event. I don’t think a lot of people really know and understand, I beat Ricky Hatton when he was undefeated.
I beat De La Hoya at a weight that De La Hoya was comfortable at. He fought De La Hoya at a catchweight. I mean, how can you be world champion if your fighting guys at catchweights? I mean, to be the official champion at that weight class, or to be known as the man at that weight class, you have to beat the guy at his weight class. All these guys that he’s beaten, he’s beaten them at catchweights to where the guys are drained once they get inside that squared circle; they’re already drained.
So I beat Ricky Hatton when he was undefeated. I beat De La Hoya at a weight that De La Hoya was comfortable at. Antonio Margarito got beat by Shane and then he fights Antonio Margarito. I beat Shane, now he wants to fight Shane. Like I said before, the list goes on. Cotto gets beat by Antonio Margarito then he wants to fight Cotto. I wanted to fight Shane when he was undefeated. I didn’t just call De La Hoya out, it just took me a long time to get the fight. I was calling De La Hoya out in the 90’s, but Bob Arum would never give me the fight.
On Pacquiao fighting Mosley:
Shane knocked out Antonio Margarito at the age of 37, right? They say that’s the best he ever looked. He lost to me at 38. My performance was so dominating, they tried to say Shane Mosley was over the hill. Most people should be talking about how Floyd Mayweather is a great undefeated future Hall of Famer that’s his own promoter and that works extremely hard to get to where he’s at.
Instead, all you hear is hate and jealous remarks from critics who criticize me and, you know, most of the time, the people that criticize me can’t do what I can do. I take my hat off to Muhammad Ali. When Muhammad Ali was at the top, everyone hated him. Now that he can barely walk, he can barely talk, the world praises and loves him and I never want to be in that position.
That’s why I tell every fighter it’s only correct that every fighter should take the tests, the random urine and the random blood tests. What’s so crazy is when you give interviews to reporters that don’t really care too much for you, basically what they’re going to do is write what they want to write and discredit you. They’re going to write and say what they want to say, no matter what you tell them. It’s like this, when I said what I said on UStream, they said I was racist, but the next day when I apologized, they didn’t put that on every network and in every newspaper. Before I fight an opponent, they build them up. They say that this is going to be Floyd Mayweather’s toughest fight and possibly his first loss. As soon as I beat them and make them look like an ordinary club fighter, that’s when they say, “this guy is washed up, he’s too old, he’s too slow,” and then they discredit me saying I’m not a great fighter. Manny Pacquiao got Fighter of the Decade, with one loss and two draws, and that was from 2000 to 2010. I was 19-0 from 2000-2010.’
The Mayweather-Pacquiao fight didn’t get made because Manny Pacquiao said he wanted two weeks of non-testing. The last two weeks leading up until the fight, he didn’t want to take the tests, so that’s why the fight didn’t happen. Everything they asked of me, I agreed and what I asked of them, they didn’t agree. When Manny gave blood before the first Morales fight, he lost. He didn’t give blood for the next two fights and he knocked Morales out with ease. A lot of times, people don&’t realize, giving blood doesn’t make you weak. Not being able to juice because you have to give blood makes you weak. That’s what a lot of people don’t realize and don’t know.
On Pacquiao’s promotion contract:
Manny Pacquico has the worst contract in sports history. He’s signed to two different companies, Top Rank Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions. 27 or 30 percent is divided between Top Rank and Golden Boy. I’m not sure what he pays his management team, but Freddie Roach is getting 15 or 20 percent, so that’s over 40 percent of his money gone right there.
One of the most important things that isn’t quoted in this article is that Mayweather never made a commitment on when he will be fighting again.
As always Floyd does make some solid points while overlooking some of the legitimate criticisms about him.
I do think Pacquiao is getting the benefit of some “media protection”, because he is active and a likable character it is hard for people especially in the media to say anything negative about him.
More people are realizing that his opponents are being carefully selected for the least risk and most money. It is nothing wrong with that as long as people aren’t hypocritical about Mayweather doing the same thing.
I think Pacquiao is slightly overrated while Mayweather is slightly underrated, but without question they are the two biggest names and money makers in boxing for two totally different reasons.
Pacquiao has this David vs. Goliath persona that has been masterfully crafted by his promotional team and he delivers in the ring. When was the last boring round you can recall Pacquiao has been in?
Mayweather has embraced the villain role better than any boxer since Mike Tyson in his prime. The fact that a defensive fighter is the biggest draw in boxing is amazing. Every opponent Mayweather faces has people hoping and praying, they are the one who will take his crown and each one gets dispatched with ease only making people despise him more and his star even brighter.
Fight Hype didn’t touch on Mayweather’s legal issues, but from what I can gather while the charges are serious a plea deal is being worked on.
I would not hold my breath about a Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight happening anytime soon even if that is what the world wants. More likely we will see a Mayweather vs. Timothy Bradley fight later this year if Mayweather decides to fight at all.
Go to Fighthype.com for full interview.