My Two Cents' Worth (11/19/09):Team Pacquiao: And the question is "Who's Next?"
by Guest Blogger: Paulo
People would say that after his victory conta Miguel Cotto, Manny Pacquiao has nowhere else to go but through Floyd Mayweather Jr. Although that makes perfect sense, I don't think Pacquiao has no more choices left. In fact, he has the luxury of choice. At this point in his career, Loud Mouth Floyd should be the one begging Manny to consider fighting him. Manny has nothing more to prove. He fought a certified Welterweight Champ, and literally "banged" him up til the referee had no more choice but to stop the slaughter. I didn't see anything of that sort happening during the Mayweather-Marquez "Numero Uno, Number err, 69" ;) fight. Come to think of it, even the title of that bout doesn't make sense. Why was Marquez Numero Uno, again?Does Size Matter?:
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In a recent interview with the British outfit Sky Sports on the subject that the Pacquiao-Cotto Main Event garnered more Pay-Per-View Buys than any of "Pretty" Floyd Mayweather Jr's matches, Floyd Jr said:“Of course they're expected to get more (viewers/buys). I’ve done over a million homes all by myself. Now we got Pacquiao and Cotto, two guys who have a pretty cool fan base, so if they do more homes than Mayweather (referring to himself), more power to them, but they're supposed to. I don’t have no dance partner” referring to the fact that "Numero Uno" Juan Manuel Marquez isn't really up to PAR with the level of boxing that Cotto and Pacquiao belong to. Which then means ... Mayweather beat-up on a substandard opponent, didn't even get to KO the guy, and didn't really do anything the likes of Pacquiao, Marco Antonio Barrera, or even a Erik Morales can't do better.
Anyway, that's beside the point. I think Manny as well as the rest of TEAM PACQUIAO, shouldn't be pressured into automatically considering the Mayweather tiff just
because that's the only bout to fight. Bob Arum would definitely want that fight to happen. I'm sure Freddie Roach has thought the fight through over a 100 times. I think even Manny is itching to tangle with Mayweather. Buboy Fernadez would definitely want to review Mayweather's tactics, and Alex Ariza ... he probably has a clear-cut strategy this early, on how to condition Pacman for the duel. The thing is, it has to be in TEAM PACQUIAO's own terms, conditions, and time table. And if that means, waiting til the holidays are over before they take this thing seriously, then I say that's exactly what they should do. Again they don't have to prove anything to anyone anyway. Manny's currently the Best Pound-Per-Pound boxer in the world, the one who holds the Most Division Titles, and Roach is currently the Best Trainer in the business. That's THAT for now, which gives them the luxury of time.What about options? Does Manny have anybody else to beat? :) Sure. He can go back to Junior/Light Welterweight, and unify the crowns. Since he still owns the IBO Junior Welterweight Title (the one he won from Hatton) that'll mean at least 2 more mega-buck deals. That sounds like a good target to me. It should bring us back to the time Iron Mike Tyson unified the Heavy Weight Divison, one victim at a time. The idea, the goal, the "series" of bouts, all of those should stir-up the boxing world.
It doesn't matter if his opponents aren't as popular as Mayweather. So as long as they are champs, they'll be as good as Cotto. Keep in mind that Pacquiao fought at Super Featherweight just two years ago. He still qualifies as the smaller man in the Light Welterweight Division. The same disadvantage will still sell. The same disadvantage will still make money. But that particular disadvantage is definitely more manageable that facing someone who has fought at Middle Weight and can't even Honor a catch weight of 145lbs at weigh-in.
Now unifying, or at least attempting to Unify the Light Welterweight Belts should draw Mayweather to Manny. If he wants to fight, then I say he should be the one to adjust. Manny will easily say "aye" at a catch weight of 143 lbs, with a million dollars penalty for every pound in excess. If Mayweather really wants to make the fight happen, I say he should be the one to do the chasing. That's the way it works. The Has-Been, should adhere to the Champs' decision.
In the meantime, if I were Manny I'll just tease Mayweather with this line:
"I think I'll RETIRE for the Holidays, and UN-RETIRE by first week of January 2010. Until then, Merry Krista ... este, Christmas pala, to everyone. ..... To you too, Jinkee even ip you're in-mad wid me". :)
-Paulo
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