The Legacies of Mayweather and Pacquiao

By Blair Frison: Most boxing pundits agree that the legacies of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao will stand the test of time, whether or not they face each other. Certainly, nobody can deny them their place in history; their names will be remembered. But they still show a worrying lack of concern for said legacies.

Pacquiao, while great, lacks a voice. He has shown no appetite for this fight. After his impressive victory over Brandon Rios, he was asked the obvious question of who he wanted next. True boxing fans everywhere issued a collective groan when he gave the standard “It’s up to my promoter” response. He has tried to redeem himself in recent weeks and must be applauded for his offer to fight for charity – a stroke of genius on his part, for which Mayweather had no legitimate response. But Pacquiao needs to do more. Basically, he needs to become a champion trash-talker. Calling Mayweather a coward was a good start.

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Mayweather poll vote ends, Khan tops Maidana to get May 3rd fight

Amir Khan’s many twitter followers have voted him in as Floyd Mayweather Jr’s next opponent on May 3rd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Mayweather poll ended yesterday at his site at Mayweather Promotions, and the final numbers showed Khan winning 57 percent of the vote with 20,105 votes compared to Maidana’s 15,474. You’ve got to give a lot of credit to Khan for doing a good job of encouraging his many followers to go to the Mayweather Promotions website and vote for him in the poll.

There was no official message at the Mayweather Promotions website about Khan now being the guy that Mayweasther will be facing next, but we’ll likely be hearing something from Mayweather himself shortly, unless he changes his mind about wanting to use the poll as his method for selecting his next opponent for his May 3rd fight. I doubt he’ll do that, because having Khan as his next opponent actually works out better for Mayweather than it would if Maidana were his next opponent.

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Get Real – Mayweather-Pacquiao Would Not “Save” Boxing

Imagine the day that would come after the long-promised Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. Everyone thinks this hypothetical bout would “save boxing” and make it relevant again. What would that mean, exactly?

Would boxing gyms reopen? Would viewership permanently skyrocket? Would boxing appear on network TV rather than premium channels? Would a bankrupted Dana White start living in a cardboard box?

I’m tired of hearing about the salvation promised by a single match. One fight cannot save boxing, no matter how big. I cannot stress this enough –DOZENS of great fights WILL save boxing.

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Erislandy Lara challenges Gennady Golovkin

How about you @gggboxing me fight you anytime! #badboyvsgoodboy

— Erislandy Lara (@Laraboxing) February 9, 2014

If WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (29-0, 26 KO’s) is still looking for an opponent for his his next fight on April 26th then he might want to consider facing junior middleweight Erislandy Lara (19-1-2, 12 KO’s), because the Cuban fighter is very interested in facing him judging by his above challenge. Golovkin still hasn’t found an opponent for his April fight at Madison Square Garden in New York.

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Pacquiao reveals his strategy for beating Bradley: “I’m going to throw a lot of punches”

If you wondered what Manny Pacquiao’s strategy will be for how he plans on beating WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley, Pacquiao revealed it in an interview this week. The strategy is simple. Pacquiao says he plans on throwing a lot of punches to force Bradley to deal a lot of incoming. Whether that’ll work or not is another thing.

Bradley isn’t someone that is going to just stand around and let Pacquiao throw 1000 punches at him in a 12 round fight like Joshua Clottey did against Pacquiao in 2010. Bradley has already said that he’s going to use a lot of movement against the Filipino fighter, and choose when and where he wants to mix it up with him.

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Deontay Wilder to get title shot if he beats Malik Scott on March 15th

After 6 years as a professional, #3 WBC Deontay Wilder (30-0, 30 KO’s) is on the cusp of fighting for a heavyweight world title if he can beat Malik Scott (36-1-1, 13 KO’s) on March 15th at the Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez, Bayamon, Puerto Rico. The Wilder-Scott fight will be a WBC eliminator bout, and the winner of that fight will be getting a title shot in 2014 against either Chris Arreola or Bermane Stiverne, depending which one of these guys emerge as the winner of their fight for the vacant WBC title in April or May.

“I’m totally capable of being a world champion, just like Emanuel Steward once said that I would,” Deontay said to RingTV. “It’s going to be most important that, come March 15, I display something that I never have before and that I show the world that Deontsy Wilder has really arrived now and that I’m really to be the world champion.”

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Is Mayweather’s Khan-Maidana poll a way of taking heat off of him when he selects Khan as his next opponent?

While boxing fans have been getting really excited about the poll on Floyd Mayweather’s website Mayweatherpromotions.com that let fans vote for his next opponent on May 3rd in a choice between Amir Khan and Marcos Maidana, this poll is seen as a just a way for Mayweather to take himself out of the target area for criticism from fans when/if he selects Khan as his next opponent.

As you might already know, Mayweather have received a tremendous amount of criticism about the idea floated about him fighting Khan on May 3rd instead of the more deserving WBA welterweight champion Maidana. Fans don’t want Khan to get the fight because he’s lost half of his last four fights, looked bad in all of them, and turned down a fight against Devon Alexander last December that he could have used to to redeem himself.

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Marquez Should Fight Pacquiao, Not Bradley and Mayweather

There are two boxers who would certainly destroy Juan Manuel Marquez’s career – Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Timothy Bradley. These unbeaten American fighters would retire the Mexican boxing superstar at his early forties.

Most boxing fans knew that Marquez was best known when he defeated a former pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao last years by knockout. It was his most memorable win ever since he started his professional boxing career.

However, Marquez’s experience and background in the sweet science are now questionable according to a lot of people who want to see another fight with Pacquiao. Boxing fans also say that the Mexican boxer is avoiding for two simple reasons:

Firstly, Pacquiao will bounce back and hurt him so bad just the way Marquez did to him.

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Demetrius Andrade Interview

After 18 years honing your craft, countless hours spent in the gym, and a childhood filled with sacrifice explain to your fans how it felt to be crowned world champion when you defeated Vanes Martirosyan at the end of 2013?

I knew when I was young that my sacrifice would pay off in the long run. I knew that if I worked not only hard but smart that I would be where I am today as world champion.But my dreams and goals go much farther than this. Winning my first title in the pro’s back in November was a great feeling. There are no words to explain what I felt in my heart. It was very special for me to do it with the team I put together and my father as head trainer, the man Paul Andrade.

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Pac, Floyd versus different foes: What it means to the fans

About 92% of boxing fans would not spend money to watch the “Pacquiao-Bradley II” and “Mayweather-Maidana/Khan” out of PROTEST against square pegs for failing to make the long-awaited bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.

Who wouldn’t think of such possibility?

The result of ESPN Sports’ survey to determine which fight the fans want the most to happen corresponds with the outcome of all the other surveys on similar subject before and after that. The latest was the poll conducted by On The Ropes Boxing Radio just this week. It’s no different. Wow! A whopping 92% of those polled voted the “Pacquiao vs. Mayweather” to be the overwhelming choice and runaway winner.

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