By Mark Vester
Trainer Emanuel Steward, speaking with Gareth Davies of The Telegraph, gave his opinion on why a fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao is not happening. Steward believes Pacquiao's handlers and being very selective with his opponents, and on the other end, Steward says Mayweather is scared to death of losing his undefeated record, which some say is important to him than money.
Steward doesn't directly come out and say it, but it seems that he's not a fan of Pacquiao's catch-weight fights where the Filipino boxer has earned titles in higher weight divisions. He gives Mayweather-Pacquiao a 50% shot of ever happening.
“Pacquiao has fought very well and has earned his greatness, but his natural weight is around 137lbs,” said Steward. “They are now cherry-picking his opponents. When you had eight weight divisions, those who moved up the divisions really were special fighters. I’m not saying there are not great fighters around today, but it is manipulated, and the best fighters are often protected.”
“On the other side of the Pacquiao-Mayweather situation, Mayweather is scared to death of losing his unbeaten record, totally petrified. I never thought he would do that. I really only see a 50/50 chance of these guys stepping into a ring to fight each other.”
