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GBP,Floyd and advisers created the problem-Al Bernstein
THE BALL IS IN FLOYD'S COURT
By Al Bernstein
It seems that the Manny Pacquiao negotiations lasted for a decade. In reality is was weeks, not years. So many times during those negotiations I was tempted to weigh in with my thoughts. But each time I started to type something on the computer, it felt like I would just be another voice in the noisy and often out of tune chorus that was providing opinions daily on this rancorous and often bizarre public battle. So, I kept silent, hopeful that things would work themselves out and boxing would have it’s latest Fight of the Century. That, of course, did not happen….at least for now. Now for what my voice is worth, I feel compelled to join the chorus.
I’ll qualify what you are about to read with a few statements of fact.
I like Floyd Mayweather Jr. I have enjoyed a very good relationship with him over the years, and I will forever be grateful that he has helped The Caring Place, the facility my wife co-founded in Las Vegas to provide free services for those touched by Cancer.
I greatly admire his skill in the ring. He is an artist. He does not always make thrilling fights, but he has painted a number of masterpieces in the ring.
That having been said, it seems patently obvious to me that Floyd and his minions killed the Pacquiao fight. Exactly how and why they killed it remains murky. But, the bottom line is a the fight was basically a done deal before they decided to inject the demands for blood testing into the picture. I seldom look for simple answers to issues. Most things in this life fall into the gray area and I believe most often there are a series of circumstances that create societal, personal or business problems. In this case though, not really. Pure and simple, Golden Boy Promotion and Floyd and his advisers created the problem and it ended up killing the fight.
Many things have been said and insinuated to make this look like a more complicated situation. But, none of them really hold water. Here are some facts.
Manny Pacquiao has never tested positive in a drug test.
Manny Pacquiao is one of the hardest working and most disciplined fighters in the sport.
Manny Pacquiao’s success as he moved up in weight has been fueled mostly by a change in style and tactics rather than added strength.
One of the most astonishing things to me is that fact number three keeps getting ignored by the folks who somehow believe that all of a sudden it’s reasonable to assume that Pacquiao above all other boxers needs a special set of testing rules to participate in a big fight. People who are supposed to know boxing are throwing out this most obvious truth in their argument that Team Mayweather’s smear campaign on Pacquiao is OK.\
When Pacquiao was fighting in those legendary wars with Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera and Juan Manuel Marquez in the 126-130 pound range he was a completely different fi9gjhter. He walked straight in and threw mostly jabs and straight left hands. He would occasionally mix in an upper cut here and there, and very seldom a powerful right hook. He seldom punched in combinations and used little lateral mo0vmenet. He was actually a pretty one dimensional fighter. He won because he had power, punching accuracy, and a great will. His fights were often wars of attrition because of his stylistic deficiencies. Given those deficiencies it is actually fairly amazing that against three hall of fame fighers, Marquez, Morales and Barrera, he went 5-1-1. It’s a testimony to his power and toughness.
When he decided to move up in weight, Freddie Roach rightly recognized that if Pacquiao fought the way he had in the lower weights, somebody bigger would probably knock him out. So, at age 29, with the help of Roach, Pacquiao did what few boxers do at any age---he reinvented himself. He became the very defiunitio0n of a boxer-puncher. The Pacquiao that fought David Diaz, Oscar DeLaHoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto at weights from 135 to 147 used hand and foot speed, an infinitely better right hand, and better defense to go along with power. Anybody who professes to know boxing should have been able to see that.
No performance enhancing drugs can change your technique. Even though he stopped all of those opponents fighting at weights higher than he had previously fought at—it was not power that made the difference. The difference was speed, ring generalship, combination punching and a vastly improved defense. Anyone that suggests otherwise and really believes it is stupid when it comes to understanding boxing. Most of the people who surround Floyd Mayweather as promoters or advisers are not stupid when it comes to understanding boxing. Most of all my friend Floyd is not stupid when it comes to understanding boxing. He is, in fact, a genius.
I have a theory (and it is only a theory—I do not have an unnamed source like one of my broadcasting colleagues professes to have in the mysterious Pacquiao e-mail conspiracy) on how this blood testing thing developed. I would suggest that it started as a ploy to unsettle Pacquiao—rattle his chain a bit. But because the whole thing was somewhat clumsily executed in public, this ploy developed a life of it’s own and then Team Mayweather was stuck with their disingenuous position and had to ride it out. It became a tidal wave of controversy that killed a mega-fight and cost many people a lot of money.
Now in the nuclear rubble left behind, it is the Pacquiao team that moved more quickly and decisively to stake out the boxing high ground. Top Rank worked diligently and swiftly to create a competitive prize fight in an exotic and exciting venue. By accepting Joshua Clottey, a big, strong and skilled welterweight as his next opponent, Pacquiao and Top Rank have played to Pacquiao’s ultimate virtue—that he has always been willing to fight tough opponents. And the reverse of that is Mayweather’s public achilles heal. The net effect of that is to further suggest that if finger pointing is to be done at anyone for avoiding the meager-fight, it ought not be wagged in Pacquiao’s direction. For the moment Manny and Top Rank have moved way ahead in the PR battle.
I say “for the moment” because in our ever changing, new news cycle per day world, the PR high ground can shift quickly under your feet. The ball is now in Floyd’s and Golden Boy’s court. If they go through with their plans to duel Pacquiao-Clottey with their own fight on March 13, they must do two things. 1.) They must win over HBO to do the pay per view of their fight, forcing Arum to go in another direction, and 2.) they must counter with something more than Paulie Malignaggi or Nate Campbell as a Mayweather opponent. One problem Golden Boy and Floyd face is that Top Rank is well equipped to hold it’s own in the pay per view battle even if they lose HBO as a distributor. They have created their own successful model for pay per views. And the other problem for Floyd’s team, is that finding a really good opponent might be tough. There is a healthy skepticism about Floyd continually battling men coming up in weight to fight him, and Malignaggi, Campbell and even the talented Tim Bradley would fall into that categtory. This will especially be highlighted since Manny is taking on a genuine welterweight contender in Clottey.
Bob Arum upped the ante by throwing in Cowboys Stadium as the location for Pacquiao-Clottey. That adds panache to the whole event. It’s the only venue in America that is an attraction by itself.
In the next week or so Floyd’s group will fire it’s bullets in this promotional war and we will see how much territory they can win back. They have assets of the4r own, not the least of which is Floyd himself who is one of the two most high profile boxers in the world. The problem is that if it turns out that he is number two on that list, we all know who number one would be. And that’s the guy they are battling for the hearts and minds of boxing fans worldwide in March.
This whole combative scenario has created a seismic shift in the boxing landscape. The truce between Top Rank and Golden Buy that produced so many excellent matches in the last several years has been eviscerated and now the cold war is back in full bloom. How it plays out in the coming months will be fascinating to watch. Luckily the momentum boxing has built and the talent and fan bases it has developed in recent years will allow it to still thrive even in the midst of this promotional carnage.
By Al Bernstein
It seems that the Manny Pacquiao negotiations lasted for a decade. In reality is was weeks, not years. So many times during those negotiations I was tempted to weigh in with my thoughts. But each time I started to type something on the computer, it felt like I would just be another voice in the noisy and often out of tune chorus that was providing opinions daily on this rancorous and often bizarre public battle. So, I kept silent, hopeful that things would work themselves out and boxing would have it’s latest Fight of the Century. That, of course, did not happen….at least for now. Now for what my voice is worth, I feel compelled to join the chorus.
I’ll qualify what you are about to read with a few statements of fact.
I like Floyd Mayweather Jr. I have enjoyed a very good relationship with him over the years, and I will forever be grateful that he has helped The Caring Place, the facility my wife co-founded in Las Vegas to provide free services for those touched by Cancer.
I greatly admire his skill in the ring. He is an artist. He does not always make thrilling fights, but he has painted a number of masterpieces in the ring.
That having been said, it seems patently obvious to me that Floyd and his minions killed the Pacquiao fight. Exactly how and why they killed it remains murky. But, the bottom line is a the fight was basically a done deal before they decided to inject the demands for blood testing into the picture. I seldom look for simple answers to issues. Most things in this life fall into the gray area and I believe most often there are a series of circumstances that create societal, personal or business problems. In this case though, not really. Pure and simple, Golden Boy Promotion and Floyd and his advisers created the problem and it ended up killing the fight.
Many things have been said and insinuated to make this look like a more complicated situation. But, none of them really hold water. Here are some facts.
Manny Pacquiao has never tested positive in a drug test.
Manny Pacquiao is one of the hardest working and most disciplined fighters in the sport.
Manny Pacquiao’s success as he moved up in weight has been fueled mostly by a change in style and tactics rather than added strength.
One of the most astonishing things to me is that fact number three keeps getting ignored by the folks who somehow believe that all of a sudden it’s reasonable to assume that Pacquiao above all other boxers needs a special set of testing rules to participate in a big fight. People who are supposed to know boxing are throwing out this most obvious truth in their argument that Team Mayweather’s smear campaign on Pacquiao is OK.\
When Pacquiao was fighting in those legendary wars with Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera and Juan Manuel Marquez in the 126-130 pound range he was a completely different fi9gjhter. He walked straight in and threw mostly jabs and straight left hands. He would occasionally mix in an upper cut here and there, and very seldom a powerful right hook. He seldom punched in combinations and used little lateral mo0vmenet. He was actually a pretty one dimensional fighter. He won because he had power, punching accuracy, and a great will. His fights were often wars of attrition because of his stylistic deficiencies. Given those deficiencies it is actually fairly amazing that against three hall of fame fighers, Marquez, Morales and Barrera, he went 5-1-1. It’s a testimony to his power and toughness.
When he decided to move up in weight, Freddie Roach rightly recognized that if Pacquiao fought the way he had in the lower weights, somebody bigger would probably knock him out. So, at age 29, with the help of Roach, Pacquiao did what few boxers do at any age---he reinvented himself. He became the very defiunitio0n of a boxer-puncher. The Pacquiao that fought David Diaz, Oscar DeLaHoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto at weights from 135 to 147 used hand and foot speed, an infinitely better right hand, and better defense to go along with power. Anybody who professes to know boxing should have been able to see that.
No performance enhancing drugs can change your technique. Even though he stopped all of those opponents fighting at weights higher than he had previously fought at—it was not power that made the difference. The difference was speed, ring generalship, combination punching and a vastly improved defense. Anyone that suggests otherwise and really believes it is stupid when it comes to understanding boxing. Most of the people who surround Floyd Mayweather as promoters or advisers are not stupid when it comes to understanding boxing. Most of all my friend Floyd is not stupid when it comes to understanding boxing. He is, in fact, a genius.
I have a theory (and it is only a theory—I do not have an unnamed source like one of my broadcasting colleagues professes to have in the mysterious Pacquiao e-mail conspiracy) on how this blood testing thing developed. I would suggest that it started as a ploy to unsettle Pacquiao—rattle his chain a bit. But because the whole thing was somewhat clumsily executed in public, this ploy developed a life of it’s own and then Team Mayweather was stuck with their disingenuous position and had to ride it out. It became a tidal wave of controversy that killed a mega-fight and cost many people a lot of money.
Now in the nuclear rubble left behind, it is the Pacquiao team that moved more quickly and decisively to stake out the boxing high ground. Top Rank worked diligently and swiftly to create a competitive prize fight in an exotic and exciting venue. By accepting Joshua Clottey, a big, strong and skilled welterweight as his next opponent, Pacquiao and Top Rank have played to Pacquiao’s ultimate virtue—that he has always been willing to fight tough opponents. And the reverse of that is Mayweather’s public achilles heal. The net effect of that is to further suggest that if finger pointing is to be done at anyone for avoiding the meager-fight, it ought not be wagged in Pacquiao’s direction. For the moment Manny and Top Rank have moved way ahead in the PR battle.
I say “for the moment” because in our ever changing, new news cycle per day world, the PR high ground can shift quickly under your feet. The ball is now in Floyd’s and Golden Boy’s court. If they go through with their plans to duel Pacquiao-Clottey with their own fight on March 13, they must do two things. 1.) They must win over HBO to do the pay per view of their fight, forcing Arum to go in another direction, and 2.) they must counter with something more than Paulie Malignaggi or Nate Campbell as a Mayweather opponent. One problem Golden Boy and Floyd face is that Top Rank is well equipped to hold it’s own in the pay per view battle even if they lose HBO as a distributor. They have created their own successful model for pay per views. And the other problem for Floyd’s team, is that finding a really good opponent might be tough. There is a healthy skepticism about Floyd continually battling men coming up in weight to fight him, and Malignaggi, Campbell and even the talented Tim Bradley would fall into that categtory. This will especially be highlighted since Manny is taking on a genuine welterweight contender in Clottey.
Bob Arum upped the ante by throwing in Cowboys Stadium as the location for Pacquiao-Clottey. That adds panache to the whole event. It’s the only venue in America that is an attraction by itself.
In the next week or so Floyd’s group will fire it’s bullets in this promotional war and we will see how much territory they can win back. They have assets of the4r own, not the least of which is Floyd himself who is one of the two most high profile boxers in the world. The problem is that if it turns out that he is number two on that list, we all know who number one would be. And that’s the guy they are battling for the hearts and minds of boxing fans worldwide in March.
This whole combative scenario has created a seismic shift in the boxing landscape. The truce between Top Rank and Golden Buy that produced so many excellent matches in the last several years has been eviscerated and now the cold war is back in full bloom. How it plays out in the coming months will be fascinating to watch. Luckily the momentum boxing has built and the talent and fan bases it has developed in recent years will allow it to still thrive even in the midst of this promotional carnage.
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