Post by EXPRESIDENT on Jul 20, 2010 16:45:51 GMT 8
Pacquiao vs. Mayweather: No deal
Sid Ventura | July 19, 2010 at 5:55 pm | Categories: Boxing, News, Sports | URL: wp.me/pRwjP-108
By Sid Ventura, Special to Yahoo! Southeast Asia
The whole boxing world was waiting with baited breath Friday night (Saturday afternoon in Manila) to see if Floyd Mayweather, Jr. would honor Bob Arum’s deadline for an answer to the proposed megamatch with Manny Pacquiao on November 13.
Yet the deadline came and went, and Mayweather gave us nothing. Not even the courtesy of a simple “No, I’m not accepting your terms, Bob.” Instead, he chose to ignore it, and apparently instructed the rest of his management team to do the same.
The silence was deafening, but the message it conveyed was loud and clear: Floyd will not be dictated upon under any circumstances. While journalists in the Philippines were busy calculating the time difference between Manila Standard Time and Pacific Daylight Time, everyone forgot that Mayweather only followed his own time.
I am guessing Arum, who has been in the fight business for over four decades now, knew he risked being snubbed when he publicly demanded a deadline-driven response from someone like Mayweather, whose ego is gargantuan to say the least. Put an ego like that on the spot, before an international audience at that, and he’d just as soon as eat shards of glass before replying to your demand.
Of course, silence doesn’t necessarily mean “no”. But at the very least, in Floyd-speak, it could roughly translate into “I will not be dictated upon. I will give my response to this proposal when I want to. It could be tomorrow, next week, or next year. If you have a problem with that, then, well, does it look like I give a hoot?”
Then again, since according to this story by respected ESPN boxing writer Dan Rafael, the Mayweather and Golden Boy camps have never publicly confirmed that talks are ongoing, it could also mean something along the lines of “Talks? What talks? Maybe Arum was talking to himself.”
In the Rafael story, Arum didn’t completely shut the door on Mayweather even though the deadline has passed and he has announced he is now pursuing either Miguel Cotto or Antonio Margarito. From the start he has been perfectly clear he wants Pacquiao to fight Pretty Boy Floyd first and foremost, so even though talks with Flody’s camp appear to be dead, all Mayweather’s camp needs to do is give their go-signal and Arum will shove Cotto and Margarito to the backburner.
They better do it quick. All these dramatics are starting to grow old, and the viewing public’s patience is wearing thin. A Pacquiao fight against anyone other than Mayweather, and vice versa, is really just a waste of time. I’ve already seen Pacquiao beat up Cotto. Why would I want to watch it again? Just so Manny can claim a title in an eighth weight class? Don’t think so. And Margarito? He can’t even fight in the United States because apparently he needs to cheat to win, so who’d watch him? Like I mentioned in a previous blog, get Cotto and Margarito to fight each other in a rematch, and leave Pacquiao out of it.
It’s extremely rare that the two best-pound-for-pound fighters are within close enough weight range to fight each other. So if Pacquiao-Mayweather doesn’t happen, who knows when boxing will see an opportunity like this again.
People have been pining for this match-up for over a year now, but they can only wait for so long. At some point, fans will finally get fed up and say, “You know what, screw them. If they don’t want this fight to happen, then forget boxing. I’m switching to MMA.”
I think it’s fair to say that Pacquiao and Arum have done their part to try and make this fight happen. And if it still doesn’t, this will be on Mayweather.
Sid Ventura | July 19, 2010 at 5:55 pm | Categories: Boxing, News, Sports | URL: wp.me/pRwjP-108
By Sid Ventura, Special to Yahoo! Southeast Asia
The whole boxing world was waiting with baited breath Friday night (Saturday afternoon in Manila) to see if Floyd Mayweather, Jr. would honor Bob Arum’s deadline for an answer to the proposed megamatch with Manny Pacquiao on November 13.
Yet the deadline came and went, and Mayweather gave us nothing. Not even the courtesy of a simple “No, I’m not accepting your terms, Bob.” Instead, he chose to ignore it, and apparently instructed the rest of his management team to do the same.
The silence was deafening, but the message it conveyed was loud and clear: Floyd will not be dictated upon under any circumstances. While journalists in the Philippines were busy calculating the time difference between Manila Standard Time and Pacific Daylight Time, everyone forgot that Mayweather only followed his own time.
I am guessing Arum, who has been in the fight business for over four decades now, knew he risked being snubbed when he publicly demanded a deadline-driven response from someone like Mayweather, whose ego is gargantuan to say the least. Put an ego like that on the spot, before an international audience at that, and he’d just as soon as eat shards of glass before replying to your demand.
Of course, silence doesn’t necessarily mean “no”. But at the very least, in Floyd-speak, it could roughly translate into “I will not be dictated upon. I will give my response to this proposal when I want to. It could be tomorrow, next week, or next year. If you have a problem with that, then, well, does it look like I give a hoot?”
Then again, since according to this story by respected ESPN boxing writer Dan Rafael, the Mayweather and Golden Boy camps have never publicly confirmed that talks are ongoing, it could also mean something along the lines of “Talks? What talks? Maybe Arum was talking to himself.”
In the Rafael story, Arum didn’t completely shut the door on Mayweather even though the deadline has passed and he has announced he is now pursuing either Miguel Cotto or Antonio Margarito. From the start he has been perfectly clear he wants Pacquiao to fight Pretty Boy Floyd first and foremost, so even though talks with Flody’s camp appear to be dead, all Mayweather’s camp needs to do is give their go-signal and Arum will shove Cotto and Margarito to the backburner.
They better do it quick. All these dramatics are starting to grow old, and the viewing public’s patience is wearing thin. A Pacquiao fight against anyone other than Mayweather, and vice versa, is really just a waste of time. I’ve already seen Pacquiao beat up Cotto. Why would I want to watch it again? Just so Manny can claim a title in an eighth weight class? Don’t think so. And Margarito? He can’t even fight in the United States because apparently he needs to cheat to win, so who’d watch him? Like I mentioned in a previous blog, get Cotto and Margarito to fight each other in a rematch, and leave Pacquiao out of it.
It’s extremely rare that the two best-pound-for-pound fighters are within close enough weight range to fight each other. So if Pacquiao-Mayweather doesn’t happen, who knows when boxing will see an opportunity like this again.
People have been pining for this match-up for over a year now, but they can only wait for so long. At some point, fans will finally get fed up and say, “You know what, screw them. If they don’t want this fight to happen, then forget boxing. I’m switching to MMA.”
I think it’s fair to say that Pacquiao and Arum have done their part to try and make this fight happen. And if it still doesn’t, this will be on Mayweather.