Why Mayweather won’t fight Pacquiao

Why Mayweather won’t fight Pacquiao

It is clear that undefeated World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (42-0, 26 KO’s) is the best defensive fighter of his generation, if not of all time. This writer is hard pressed to think of another fighter in boxing history whose skills were comparable to “Money” Mayweather’s. Tactically Floyd is also in a class of his own when compared to the fighters of today.

 When judging the best fighters of today it is often difficult. Old timers tend to exaggerate the greatness of fighters from their own era. Still it is hard not to overstate the greatness of fighters from the past like Sugar Ray Robinson. In fact the term “Pound for Pound” greatest fighters was developed by boxing historians of Sugar Ray’s era as a way to measure him against fighters from the past like Harry Greb and Benny Leonard. When looking at Robinson it is often said that he had no weaknesses. Like heavyweight champion Joe Louis, Robinson fought often and against the best competition available.

It is always important for any great fighter, as Floyd Mayweather definitely is, to be tested against the best fighters of his generation. It is this writers opinion that Floyd would outpoint any fighter of this era, even his number one nemesis, WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KO’s).

Mayweather has demonstrated over the years that he excels in every facet of the fight game. The only drawback that “Money” has is his refusal to be tested against the best competition. He has agreed to fight the formerly great Puerto Rican WBA light middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (37-2, 30 KO’s). But Miguel is not the feared fighter he was back in 2007. He has suffered two devastating losses since then. One of the losses was an 11 round stoppage at the hands of Antonio Margarito in July 2008. Then in November 2009 Cotto was stopped by Manny Pacquiao in the 12th round. Cotto is most definitely not the same fighter he was prior to those two losses.

Prior to selecting Cotto as his opponent for May 5 at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas boxing fans were hopeful that he would elect to fight Manny Pacquiao in what would have been the hugest Pay Per View (PPV) fight in boxing history. However that did not prove to be the case.

Mayweather reserved the MGM Grand for May 5 for his next fight, just prior to Manny Pacquiao’s fight with Juan Manual Marquez. It was evident to boxing observers that Floyd had no intention of fighting Pacquiao on the Cinco De Mayo holiday. Then “Money” went on a campaign in which he would tweet messages to Manny such as “Step up punk!” Mayweather’s fans ate it up thinking that Floyd really wanted to fight Pacquiao.

Then Mayweather went very public that he had offered Pacquiao $40 million to fight him. However when Pacquiao placed a call to Floyd, Mayweather made it clear that he would keep all the proceeds from the PPV and whatever other revenue the fight drew.
When you take into account that a Mayweather – Pacquiao fight would bring in upwards of $160 million in PPV alone it became clear to Pacquiao at that time that Mayweather was attempting to sandbag him with a ridiculously low offer.

So the question is, why doesn’t Floyd want to take on a fighter who most boxing pundits think he would defeat? It gets complicated, but obviously Floyd being the master strategist that he is, sees something in Manny’s style that he fears. At this stage of his career Mayweather does not want to risk going up against a fighter he may potentially lose to.

The one edge Pacquaio has over Floyd is his one punch KO power and his ability to devastate fighters who are larger than he is. In addition, Manny is totally fearless in the ring and when he lands his combinations they come in bunches at unusual angles with power and speed.

Evidently when taken in totality, Manny Pacquiao is perceived by Floyd Mayweather as too much of a risk.