This column was overdue for a renaming, so it’ll keep reshuffling newspaper names around.
In this edition of The Manny-Floyd Clarion Bee, we augur the likelihood of Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao finally happening, from some goat guts laying around; mock the latest ignorant trash talk of Floyd’s poppy; similarly heap disdain upon the latest potential opponent choices for Pacquiao; and examine developments in Nevada’s drug testing dabbles.
Chances Improving?
I’d been giving short shrift to the latest tidbits about whether we’d finally get the welterweight megamegamegafight between Mayweather and Pacquiao. It’s tiresome to the nth degree, the “will they or won’t they?” b.s. But they’re adding up, these tidbits, so let’s take a look.
First, there was Oscar De La Hoya’s “we are close in finalizing the contracts” remark on a Spanish-language program. If you’ve been paying attention to such minutiae, you know that De La Hoya has showed signs of being strangely detached from his promotional business Golden Boy of late, so that in and of itself doesn’t mean that much.
But wait, there’s more! Yahoo’s Kevin Iole, who reported on the negotiations and negotiation fallout as well as or better than anyone last time around, recently said he’s turned the corner from thinking the fight hasn’t happened to being optimistic that it will. He cited no evidence, just “seeing things.”
And Bob Arum, he’s “optimistic.” Although Bob is well-known for saying things with no connection to reality, that puts Pacquiao’s promoter on record, with De La Hoya on record as Mayweather’s promoter, both making encouraging remarks. At the same time.
And this site, which, no offense, doesn’t break all the biggest news stories or anything, went so far as to say that it’s settled, and all that’s waiting are the signatures.
There are bad signs, too, of course, like Pacquiao’s strength and conditioning guru saying he doesn’t think the fight will happen. I’m not getting my hopes up on this, and neither should you. But you should know that the trend lines are good.
Floyd Mayweather, Sr. Doesn’t Understand Boxing
Surprise surprise, Junior.’s dad thinks he should have been the Fighter of the Decade. It’s the accompanying rhetoric that’s galling enough that calls for mockery. Anyone who thinks Pacquiao should have been the Fighter of the Decade — which is everyone, basically, except Mayweather, Sr. — “hurts boxing.”
Know why? Because Floyd was undefeated in the decade and Pacquiao wasn’t. That’s the only qualification, duh. This is the Mayweathers we’re talking about. It doesn’t matter whom you beat, it doesn’t matter how. All that matters is the zero. P.S. I should be tied for Fighter of the Decade. I’m also undefeated as a pro.
Everyone stop hurting boxing, OK? We can all live in a Mayweather world where you can avoid fighting the best opponents in your division for seven out of the 10 years and still be the Fighter of the Decade. And because nobody will be fighting anyone, we all get to keep our pretty zeroes.
And to answer your question, Senior: Beating Pacquiao in 2010 doesn’t make your son the Fighter of the Decade retroactively. But with a win over Shane Mosley and Pacquiao this year, Junior would have an impeccable case for Fighter of the Year, and he’d have a real nice head start for Fighter of THIS Decade.
Opponents For Pacquiao
If it ain’t Floyd, Pacquiao’s team keeps talking about Miguel Cotto or Antonio Margarito as his next opponent. Pshaw. Let’s assume that’s all talk to keep Pacquiao’s negotiating position strong. Margarito recently did bad pay-per-view numbers — although there were some mitigators to that, as David P. Greisman pointed out — and last year got knocked out by the Mosley that Mayweather dominated. Everyone saw what Pacquiao did to Cotto and even an improved Cotto under new trainer Emmanuel Steward ain’t changing that verdict in a rematch. If these are serious options, they’re wastes of time, downright bad fights, even.
The other fellow making some noise is Timothy Bradley, who’s moving up to welterweight and talking about going after Pacquiao or Mayweather. That’s a better choice of opponent, but it’s terribly disappointing, to think about Bradley leaving behind all that business at junior welterweight so he can be the person to be the disappointing fill-in for either Pacquiao or Mayweather.
Nevada Drug Testing Testimony
Funky — two out of three witnesses before the Nevada State Athletic Commission recently said blood testing close to a fight is a bad idea, because it’s dangerous to the fighters. I know, I know — here all the time you were getting blood withdrawn, you were right on death’s door. All right, not that bad, but they cited the risk of a hematoma. I thought that testimony was a bit on the lame side.
It’s true, too, that there are serious doubts about whether blood testing can detect HGH, as the witnesses said. But I’m not sure random urine testing is more likely to catch it.
Bottom line, Nevada’s not going to be inclined to move to blood testing by the majority of this testimony. As Mayweather wants blood testing and Pacquiao doesn’t, the scenario where the NSAC solves the negotiating dispute by mandating blood testing also becomes less likely.
