A battle for the ages
THE LONG WAIT is finally over as on Sunday (Manila time) the two best boxers today go at it in what many are calling the biggest boxing event in history.
Dubbed locally as the “Battle for Greatness,” the mega-fight will see for the first time undefeated American champion Floyd “Money” Mayweather, Jr. against Filipino boxing legend Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao in a welterweight unification bout that took all of six years to become a reality.
The scheduled 12-rounder is set to become the richest fight in sports history with reported estimates easily topping over half-a-billion dollars in earnings.
But while the Mayweather-Pacquiao mega-fight’s place in sporting annals is already ascertained, pundits believe the outcome of the fight is still very much open considering the kind of caliber the main players pack.
“It has to happen first. We have to see it happen and wait for the result. You can never tell at this point what will happen and how it will end. The outcome is very open still,” said noted boxing analyst and radio personality Dennis Principe in an interview with
Business World.
He went on to say that Sunday’s fight will be the toughest for both Mr. Mayweather, 38, and Mr. Pacquiao, 36, in their respective storied careers, and, thus, the need for them to bring their A-game.
Mr. Principe said for Mr. Pacquiao to have a solid shot at winning he has to employ the kind of stuff that has made him a huge success in the 147-pound weight class.
“Manny should just maintain the type of skills and game plan he employed all throughout in the welterweight division. We are talking about two Manny Pacquiaos here. One, is more of a thinking fighter. And the other one, is the bold and tough Pacquiao,” Mr. Principe said.
“If he employs the kind of stuff he used when he fought Miguel Cotto or Oscar De la Hoya, I see him winning by decision. If he goes for a knockout it will be a huge gamble for him. He is capable of throwing more punches than Mayweather but we have to remember his loss to (Juan Manuel) Marquez (in their last fight) where he fought like a flyweight that went inside a lot,” he added.
PATIENCE
As for Mr. Mayweather, Mr. Principe said the Pacquiao fight will test his patience.
“It will probably be the first time that we will see him (Mayweather) get hit by more than two punches. So it is a test of his patience. In the press conference we saw a totally different Mayweather. More formal and gentleman. My belief is he is trying to compose himself, trying to develop patience. Mayweather is a very intelligent fighter. He knows that to beat Manny Pacquiao you have to be patient,” Mr. Principe said.
For another expert, veteran boxing analyst Quinito Henson, the mega-fight should serve to highlight the kind of fighters Messrs. Mayweather and Pacquiao are just as he underscored the significance of the boxing event.
“The magnitude of this fight is huge. Both these fighters resonate globally. That, coupled with how it is set to break viewership records (in pay-per-view hits and gross, and ticket sales), makes this the ‘fight of the century’,” Mr. Henson said in a separate interview.
“I think it’s going to be 50-50. Mayweather is very crafty and very skilled and he is very smart. Pacquiao has the heart and power. So maybe it is a fight between skills and IQ against heart, power, work rate and speed,” Mr. Henson added. Despite seeing the fight being close, however, Mr. Henson said he sees a Pacquiao victory in the end. “Pacquiao by decision,” he said. The Mayweather- Pacquiao megafight is to be held at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Mr. Mayweather is undefeated in 47 fights and is aiming to break the all-time record set by American heavyweight legend Rocky Marciano of 49-0. Mr. Pacquiao, meanwhile, is an eight-division world champion with a total professional record of 57 wins (38 by KOs), five losses and two draws.
MEGA-FIGHT NOT GOOD VS EVIL — MAYWEATHER
Meanwhile, Mr. Mayweather insisted on Wednesday that his blockbuster fight against Mr. Pacquiao is about boxing and business, not angels and demons, as the rivals went eyeball-to-eyeball at their final pre-fight press conference.
Mr. Pacquiao goes into Saturday’s bout that has the boxing world buzzing trailing a mantle of humanitarian deeds.
The two-term congressman tipped as a future Philippines president has left womanizing and gambling ways behind him and while he stands to make some $ 100 million for his night’s work on Saturday, the devout Christian says he hopes the intense focus on the fight will be a stage for the glorification of God. “I want to inspire,” Mr. Pacquiao said. But Mr. Mayweather won’t be playing the devil, despite a history that includes two months in jail in 2012 for an assault on an ex-girlfriend in front of two of their children.
“I am a realist,” said Mr. Mayweather, the 38- year- old American who has parlayed a perfect 47- 0 ring record into a reign as the highest- paid sportsman on the planet.
“This fight is not good versus evil. It is one fighter who is at the top and another.”
It was Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach who first billed the fight as good against evil, citing Mr. Mayweather’s record of domestic violence.
“For the first time in my life with Manny Pacquiao, this is the first fighter he hasn’t liked. I can tell,” Mr. Roach said earlier this month.
Mr. Mayweather, an energetic trash- talker in his younger days, has often courted controversy — comparing himself favorably to Muhammad Ali and flaunting the perks his wealth has brought: houses, cars, even an airplane.
But Mr. Mayweather, who said this week he expects a payday of $200 million for this fight alone, says none of that will matter when he steps in the ring.
“I believe in my skills. I believe I will be victorious,” said Mr. Mayweather, who puts his World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association welterweight belts on the line against Mr. Pacquiao, the World Boxing Organization champ. —