by James Slater – Fans and experts, most of them anyway, are in agreement that Floyd Mayweather Junior looked quite sensational this past Saturday, as he easily (for the most part, that big scare in round-two aside) handled “Sugar” Shane Mosley in Las Vegas. Looking as fast as ever, if not faster, and also showing he can take a great shot or two if his sublime defensive skills are ever penetrated, “Money” won his first legitimate super-fight against a legitimate welterweight.
There are two big questions now: will Mayweather be able to get Manny Pacquiao into the ring with him for his next fight, and is the 33-year-old boxing master once again deserving of being ranked at number-one in the pound-for-pound ratings?
“Pac-Man,” who holds welterweight wins over Oscar De la Hoya, Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey, is currently the world’s #1 pound-for-pound choice, yet Mayweather has always maintained that he is more deserving of the honour. After what he did to Mosley, he may have a good number of people agreeing with him. Mosley, when he faced Mayweather, was neither weight-drained (as De la Hoya was when he faced Pacquiao), he wasn’t forced to take the fight at an agreed 145-pounds (as was the case with Cotto when he fought Pacquiao) and he wasn’t a gun-shy Joshua Clottey. Basing the pound-for-pound argument purely on the welterweight accomplishments of the two men, then, is Mayweather more deserving of the top spot?
What we all agree on, is the fact that “Money” and “Pac-Man” are one and two, P-4-P, and they quite simply have to fight to settle the argument. But that’s the problem; neither guy seems all that concerned about having to take the fight. Mayweather says he will only fight Pacquiao if the Filipino dynamo agrees to his drug test demands, but that if he will not do so, then fine, there will be no fight. While Pacquiao, who does not like being dictated to by anyone, isn’t desperate to jump through hoops for Mayweather to get the fight.
In the case of this mega-fight of a potential match-up, it’s the fans who want the fight more than the actual fighters. No-one is saying either guy is afraid of the other, it’s just that if a deal cannot be reached both men will quite happily go their separate ways – Mayweather maybe into a fight with middleweight champ Sergio Martinez, and Pacquiao perhaps into a clash with Antonio Margarito.
So, neither guy appears to be overly worried about the pressure that is on them from the fans to give them the fight they want. Having said that, in my opinion, there is now, perhaps for the first time, more pressure on Pacquiao to take the drugs tests and get into the ring with Mayweather. Pacquiao won’t care too much about it, but more and more people at least appear to be asking out loud the question, if Pacquiao has nothing to hide then why won’t he just take the damn test?
Further pressure may well be on “Pac-Man’s” shoulders due to the masterful showing, perhaps the best yet, that Mayweather put on on Saturday. Are there as many people out there today who feel as confident as they did pre-Mayweather WU12 Mosley that Pacquiao has the beating of “Money?” I must confess, while I would have picked Pacquiao to beat Mayweather had the scheduled March fight taken place, I’m no way so sure or confident now!
And that’s why it’s so frustratingly annoying being a fight fan right now; the biggest and potentially best fight that can be made in the sport right now, may not, perhaps will not, ever see the light of day. And worst still, the two best fighters on the planet, the two guys who have the power to make the fight, don’t seem all that bothered at the thought of it not happening.
If that’s not frustrating I don’t know what is!