By Terence Dooley
The road to Floyd Mayweather Vs. Manny Pacquiao has been a frustrating one for boxing fans. The “Who wins and why?” debate has raged ever since 2009, but, without a fight, there’s been no conclusion to the arguments—it’s been as frustrating as a climax free bout of lovemaking, and just as unfulfilling.
Now the fight is finally on, it should go a long way to settling some debates—although the fact both are past their best will leave some wiggle-room for the fans on the losing side of the equation—yet the one thing that won’t be settled is the issue of who is the black hat villain and who is the gunslinger sent in to clean up the town.
Boxing fans tend to think in binary, black and white, so we like to cast a Hero and a Villain when visualising big fights. In this case Floyd, with his rap sheet and crass demeanour, has been cast as the Bad Guy. Manny, married, God-loving and polite, given the role of the potential saviour of boxing—the man who will strip away Mayweather’s ‘0’ and perhaps teach him a lesson in humility.
It’s a nice, clean pre-fight perspective. Good Vs Bad, Shane against Jack Wilson, but, as in life, there are shades of grey. This fight is not as clearly defined as, say, Lennox Lewis versus Mike Tyson—mummy’s boy takes on convicted rapist in a fight for the soul of boxing—but it does have one thing in common, namely that it’s happening far too late in their respective careers.
Outside the ring, Mayweather’s conduct prompts a sense of unease in most rational people; he was convicted of misdemeanour battery, domestic violence and harassment in 2012 for an attack on Josie Harris, the mother of his children, in 2010, which further diminishes and damns him in the court of public opinion.
His sole saving grace is that he is covertly crass—this is the man who complained about the “low” quality of the food and the prison tap water during his prison stint, prompting Prosecutor Lisa Luzaich to ask: “Where did he think he was going? The Four Seasons?”—so we know what we know about him and can judge him accordingly outside the ring while respecting what he does inside the ring.
Like Scarface, the 38-year-old knows, and plays up to, his role as the bad guy in any given match-up: he was the money obsessed trash talker to Ricky Hatton’s man of the people, the liberty taking “cheat” to victor Ortiz’s role model, and on and on. He is what he is—there’s no attempt at deceit or obscurification.
Indeed, he was bullish after making the, quite despicable, decision to upload a sonogram image on Instagram before revealing that Shantel Jackson, his former partner had aborted their twin babies—she subsequently filed a lawsuit claiming it was public humiliation. Mayweather defended himself by lashing out at abortion, but public sympathy has been scarce.
Pacquiao, though, has also had his time on the wrong side of what anyone would consider the right side of good. Jinkee, his wife, has spoken openly about his past infidelities, the gambling and bad behaviour that has been arrested by the reaffirmation of his faith.
Like Floyd, Manny, 57-5-2 (38), did wrong by the woman in his life, but the 36-year-old addressed this through religion and was given a pass due to his: “I’m just here to fight, thank god and provide for my family—I might even sing you a song” persona and his devout Catholic faith, which he rarely mentions.
Be it beating or cheating, it’s a sign of disrespect to the person in your life and both actions result in damage, physically and, in Jinkee’s case, emotionally. The behaviour of both men has left a lot to be desired, but Mayweather’s perceived lack of repentance, plus general personality, has left him firmly entrenched in his role while Manny’s public penance has given him a pass.
A few fans have told me that Manny's treatment of his wife, herself a public figure in the Philippines, is not as bad as Mayweather's battery sheet. No argument there, but to paint the Filipino as a good guy is, relatively speaking, the equivalent of saying, "Cheating on your wife is fine, but I'd draw the line at beating her up." Physical or mental, abuse is abuse, a cheat is a cheat. Neither man is likely to receive a Sir Walter Raleigh award any time soon.
A lot can be said about you through the way you treat others. Their indiscretions could be a sign of weakness or the actions of men who became so stupefied by successful, so powerful, they felt that they could do what they want when they wanted and without any thought for the people around them.
Both men have another woman in their lives, too. Boxing’s been referred to as a “mistress”, and a cruel one at that, but, in this case, both men have, again, treated the other woman in their lives with a fundamental lack of respect.
This fight should have taken place in 2009 or 2010, both sides make compelling cases as to why the other side is to blame, and their fans will never budge an inch. The bottom-line is that they had the power to make it when it counted and didn’t, preferring to go for other, lesser, options instead of each other.
Mud has been thrown on both sides yet both have picked lesser foes, handicapped them with weight stipulations—in Mayweather’s case needlessly coming in overweight against Marquez—and generally stacked the deck in their favour. In short: they’ve behaved like atypical top-level fighters while denying us the chance to find out if either man is good enough to grace the all-time lists.
Half a decade on and it is on. However, it’s no longer the behemoth it once was. Sure, Mayweather is still undefeated, but he looks off the pace and was running out of big fight options. Manny’s not been the same since he re-established his faith. Freddie Roach, his trainer, has wondered aloud if his charge has lost a bit of the devilment that came with his former, testosterone-fuelled lifestyle of gambling and late nights. A decision loss to Tim Bradley followed by a knockout to Juan Manuel Marquez in a winless 2012 further dampened Manny, and the fight’s, appeal.
As is invariably the case in boxing, the two men have come together out of a sense of pragmatism, rather than Corinthian ideals, as a fight that was once truly super is now less so and, for this writer, is a cynical cash out.
They could fight two or three more times against A.N. Other and make good money, or take on each other and rake a lot of the cash they would have got in 2009, but without the edge to the in-ring action itself. In short, they’ll get what they want from this event, the average boxing fan won’t, which is an indictment of both fighters.
In 2009, this match-up would have galvanised a sport that always needs a boost, silencing those who believe this to be a cynical game. Now, though, it is like a remake of a film that was never made in the first place—a facsimile of the fight that should have been.
The appetite is there for it, it will sell yet it isn’t what it once was and won’t answer as many questions as we hoped it would. That’s the tragedy of this fight. What was once a definitive encounter now smacks of two pampered prima donnas tossing boxing fans a gnawed bone—and U.S. will pay a premium price of $100 for it on pay-per-view.
The average fans, the ones both fighters claim they are doing this for, as if it is a favour, have been priced out of buying a ticket. They went on sale to the public late in the day on the primary market, starting at $1500 and with a top limit of $7500, but ended up on Stubhub almost immediately, and for mind-boggling sums, $5000 upwards, with some going for over $100,000. That's what happens when you put on an event "for the fans" then only offer them a 1000 tickets out of a possible 17,500 [Note: Since publication, Manny has paid for a number of tickets for his own entourage and followers].
Fortunately, the fighters will do well out of the fight, allowing them to pay their tax bills and whatnot. There's a $300,000,000 split, 60/40 in Mayweather's favour. Ticket sales are estimated at 70+ million dollars. Closed Circuit should rake in $13. And on it goes.
In terms of the ticketing, this fight has achieved the impossible already by making the World Cup ticket allocations seem fair, sane and sensible. Throw in hotel room hikes, a higher price than usual for the PPV in other countries, an increase to the CCTV price, charged admission for the weigh-in (for "health and safety reasons", natch) and a supporting card that's about as low as an undercard can sink and it makes grim reading for the rank and file of boxing fans. It's a real case of rinse and repeat (a rematch is all but guaranteed) for this one.
Once the dust settles, the arguments will continue to rage and both camps will play their games. Whoever wins, we lose and, in this case, it’s less Good Vs Bad and more layers of grey, which is usually the case both in boxing and life—we’re fooling ourselves if we think otherwise.
As for the fight itself, Mayweather’s the better fighter and will win on points or by a body shot induced late stoppage. People talk about the handful of rounds in which he has struggled against southpaws, rather than the many he has won, so I expect him to have a few hairy early moments en route, but only a few. If one fighter capitalises on mistakes and the other makes dozen per round it's always better to go for the one who makes fewer unforced errors.
It will be a hollow victory for the winner, though, as there will always be a “What if?” hanging over the result, which is a shame for both men and the sport itself. That’s boxing for you.
Coda:
With a week to go, it's started to shape up like Larry Holmes against Michael Spinks due to a few pre-fight portents.
Like Holmes, Mayweather, 47-0 (26), is the better boxer, but Manny's style could offset his all-round ability and might be more pleasing to the judges. Mayweather's also chasing Rocky Marciano's 49-0 milestone, as was Holmes.
After dropping the first of two consecutive decisions to Spinks, a bitter Holmes spat out the infamous, "Marciano couldn't carry my jockstrap" insult. Although less disrespectful to greats from the past, Mayweather has often said he is the GOAT, not Muhammad Ali or Ray Robinson, which is certainly an insult to the intelligence of most knowledgeable boxing fans.
One final thought it that the Holmes-Spinks brace took place in Las Vegas and Larry was the naturally bigger man.
It's food for thought for Manny's legion of fans.
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