So Floyd Mayweather is going to fight Manny Pacquiao? Awesome. Finally, there is a fight that the sports world and beyond could really get into.
As a displaced boxing fan, I was extremely excited by the prospects of the match-up. The two best boxers in the world were going to fight. In a world where people love to argue the merits of each expert’s “pound-for-pound lists”, the public unanimously views Pacquiao and Mayweather as the numbers one and two fighters respectively.
Their ranking at the top is no longer opinion. It is fact.
Plus, Mayweather is the unquestioned star of HBO’s 24/7 series. Seeing weeks of build-up for the fight would make the anticipation grow to levels never before seen. Every sports fan in America (and beyond) would have to be excited for the fight.
The match-up would have been the biggest fight since Mike Tyson defeated Michael Spinks on June 27, 1988. Boxing had a chance to deliver the biggest fight of the past three decades.
Then, we learned far too much about drug testing.
Immediately, the cynic in me thought one of two things was happening. The first was that Mayweather and Pacquiao were just trying to build interest in the fight. To really be arguing about drug testing is just illogical.
The second was that this fight truly has no chance of happening. One of the fighters does not want to face the other. Or maybe neither of them wants to fight. I do not care who the culprit is. To me, that does not matter. As a fan, the only thing I cared about was the fact the biggest fight boxing has to offer would not get made.
Unfortunately for the entire sports world, the second scenario was correct. The biggest fight boxing can make will not take place.
We can debate for hours why the fight will not happen. We can blame Mayweather for requesting blood tests. We can blame Pacquiao for refusing to take them. We can blame Bob Arum, Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Sr., or Richard Schaefer for allowing this to spiral out of control.
None of that really matters. The fight is over.
In a few months, Pacquiao will be facing Yuri Foreman, and Mayweather will be taking on Paulie Malignaggi. Both are completely useless match-ups to the sport. No one outside of the hardcore fans will really care about the results.
After finally being excited about a boxing match then having it ripped away, I hope both boxers lose. If Mayweather and Pacquiao both win, the bickering will all start over. Maybe next time, we’d have to hear about the size of the gloves or the location of the fight or some detail that never should make it to the public.
Instead of gaining boatloads of new fans, boxing turned them away as they were banging on the cabin door. Well done. Maybe the NFL can counter and cancel the Super Bowl. That would never happen.
Boxing just set itself back twenty-one years. At least we can still fondly think back to the excitement and anticipation of when Mike Tyson stood in the ring with Michael Spinks.
The fight did not deliver, but at least the sport did.
