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By Jake Donovan - For boxing fans around the world, all eyes remain affixed on May 2, when Ricky Hatton and Manny Pacquiao collide in the first truly big event of the year.
Pacquiao is in pursuit of Hatton’s junior welterweight crown and the history that will come with winning his fourth true lineal championship. Hatton enters the fight as champ, but it’s Pacquiao’s pound-for-pound crown that motivates him to wake up in the morning these days.
The crowd of fighters lining up in hopes of securing a fight with the winner already resembles a Wall Street trading pit at closing bell. Chief among the list, current top welterweight Sugar Shane Mosley, lineal lightweight king Juan Manuel Marquez and last but certainly not least, the potentially comebacking Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Any other name hoping to enter the mix is a considerable long shot to land such a fight, which is why it’s important for most of the rest of the sport to proceed as if it’s business as usual.
That leads us to this weekend’s intriguing junior welterweight matchup between current alphabet titlists Kendall “Rated-R” Holt and Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley, which airs live on Showtime (Saturday, 10:45 PM, Montreal, Quebec, Canada).
In a perfect world, the winner of Saturday’s unification match stands next in line to challenge the May 2 winner. The pairing makes sense from a merit standpoint; while Hatton-Pacqiuao is for the top spot at junior welterweight, the winner of Bradley-Holt should rightfully be recognized as its top contender.
But the next fight to be made solely on merit will be the first. As so many (in fact, too many) boxers and boxing personalities will tell you, the almighty dollar is the bottom line. [details]
Pacquiao is in pursuit of Hatton’s junior welterweight crown and the history that will come with winning his fourth true lineal championship. Hatton enters the fight as champ, but it’s Pacquiao’s pound-for-pound crown that motivates him to wake up in the morning these days.
The crowd of fighters lining up in hopes of securing a fight with the winner already resembles a Wall Street trading pit at closing bell. Chief among the list, current top welterweight Sugar Shane Mosley, lineal lightweight king Juan Manuel Marquez and last but certainly not least, the potentially comebacking Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Any other name hoping to enter the mix is a considerable long shot to land such a fight, which is why it’s important for most of the rest of the sport to proceed as if it’s business as usual.
That leads us to this weekend’s intriguing junior welterweight matchup between current alphabet titlists Kendall “Rated-R” Holt and Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley, which airs live on Showtime (Saturday, 10:45 PM, Montreal, Quebec, Canada).
In a perfect world, the winner of Saturday’s unification match stands next in line to challenge the May 2 winner. The pairing makes sense from a merit standpoint; while Hatton-Pacqiuao is for the top spot at junior welterweight, the winner of Bradley-Holt should rightfully be recognized as its top contender.
But the next fight to be made solely on merit will be the first. As so many (in fact, too many) boxers and boxing personalities will tell you, the almighty dollar is the bottom line. [details]
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