With a dominant victory over Brandon Rios this past Sunday in Macau, China, Manny Pacquiao has ensured he will remain one of the top draws in boxing.
In light of this, Pacquiao could fight any number of boxers and get a payday that 99.9 percent of all boxers only dream about, but that doesn't mean it will get the general public buzzing about Pacquiao as it was in his heyday.
After all, it was Pacquiao's willingness to take on and defeat elite challengers in almost any weight class that made the Filipino congressman a legend in the first place.
With a less-than-elite opponent, Brandon Rios, going down in sound defeat, Pac-Man already has his eyes on his next trip to the ring with a tentative plan to get back in the ring in April.
The problem with all this is, it's not like there is a long list of opponents people are dying to see Pacquiao fight.
Obviously, there is one opponent that comes to mind: Floyd Mayweather Jr.
A meeting between these two legendary fighters has been the dream of boxing fans for years, and Top Rank promoter Bob Arum got this talk rolling again when he announced Pacquiao's next fight date.
However, Bob Arum isn't always concerned about the feasibility or likelihood of his statements. In fact, his very involvement in the fight may be the biggest reason this fight never happens. By all appearances, Mayweather is loathe to do anything that would help line the pockets of Arum.
However, beyond that, this matchup wasn't even given a fighting chance this time:
Arum is not forgetting anything. He's just saying this as a hollow and self-serving statement to drum up hype and maybe make Mayweather look a little more culpable of ducking.
Who cares? We're smart enough to know that fight is not going to happen this April, or May for that matter.
So, who else is left? Not much but retreads, but that isn't a bad thing.
Timothy Bradley (31-0, 12 KO) and Juan Manuel Marquez (55-7-1, 40 KO) remain viable opponents.
They, of course, are the two men who sent Pacquiao to two straight defeats heading into his bout with Rios.
It was against Bradley where Pac-Man came up on the losing end of a controversial decision. Plenty, if not most observers, felt Pacquiao was a clear winner in that fight, and to be honest, it was not all that great of a fight.
Bradley is an outstanding fighter, but his movement and stick-and-move style don't make for the most appealing fights. Still, the notion of Pacquiao trying to avenge his loss is an appealing one, and Bradley has won his only two fights since beating Pac-Man to stay undefeated.
His last victory happened to come over Marquez via a split decision.
Bradley holds the WBO Welterweight title, so this matchup would also benefit from being for a title boxing fans actually care about—unlike what just happened with Pac-Man's most recent fight.
Still, if it was up to me, I'd prefer another fight with Marquez. I realize it would be the fifth meeting of the two, but every round of this epic rivalry has been entertaining and their last fight was easily one of the fights of the year.
I'm not convinced Marquez will want to take this fight, however. He is 40, and after delivering the only knockout in the rivalry between the two, it's not like he could end the rivalry on a higher note.
Also, using my amazing powers of deduction, when he said he would retire if he didn't get Bradley for his next fight, I became a little skeptical.
Despite all of this, there would be a lot of money involved in a rematch with Pacquiao, and Marquez is running out of paydays. His entire statement about retirement may have just been a bargaining tactic. As a boxing fan, I hope it was.
Read more Boxing news on BleacherReport.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment