At this point, nobody cares who is scared of whom.
Nobody cares about the precise reason for a holdup in the never-gonna-happen megafight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.
What we do know is that the reason this fight hasn't happened is probably due to fear on the part of both Mayweather and Pacquiao—neither of them wants to actually have to live up to their own big words and big promises, and it's just more fun to trash talk without ever having to really put their money where their mouths are.
But all that being said, Pacquiao's claims that a fight isn't happening because of Mayweather are just getting annoying.
Most recently, Pacquiao went on ESPN2's First Take to chat with Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless about the possibility of a superfight. In typical Pacquiao fashion, he dodged the real question and instead started a brand-new media firestorm by giggling and saying that Mayweather is "maybe a little bit" scared…
…much to the delight of Stephen A. and Skip.
First of all, let's be real: We know that is just not true. We all know that Pacquiao is just as tentative to face Mayweather as Mayweather is to face him. And no offense to Pac-Man, but he doesn't look quite as intimidating now as he did before he lost a split decision to Timothy Bradley last June.
It may have been controversial, but the fact remains that Pacquiao didn't dominate Bradley as many expected him to. Whether you think he won or lost that one, he certainly didn't win conclusively.
Mayweather, meanwhile, destroyed Miguel Cotto in May before going off to jail for a couple of months. So if anyone is scared, it probably isn't him.
There are a few factors that have doubtlessly contributed to the reason why this superfight hasn't yet happened. One of them is that Mayweather just got out of jail, so before he gets back in the ring—particularly if it's against his biggest rival—he needs to get into shape and make sure he's 100 percent ready.
Another reason is promoter Bob Arum, who has been notoriously difficult to deal with as both sides have allegedly tried to work out some kind of deal to get on with this megafight. Arum won't agree to Mayweather's terms, according to USA Today, and instead of compromising, he's simply taken to the same tactics as Pacquiao: calling Mayweather scared instead of finding a way to agree to suitable terms.
All of which, of course, could be a ploy to get Pacquiao out of the fight.
There's a lot of he-said, he-said going on here, and it's hard to see through all the smoke and mirrors and establish what is really going on. Is there a part of Mayweather that is resistant to the idea of putting everything on the line and facing Pacquiao? Probably. How could there not be?
But for Pacquiao to suggest that he holds no similar fears—for him to suggest Mayweather is just running scared—is simply preposterous.
At this point, Pacquiao has a lot more to be scared of than Mayweather. And if he doesn't, let's see a fight.
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