Mayweather-Pacquiao: Opposite’s attract for boxing’s biggest fight

Andy Lewis 10:21 30/04/2015
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  • Floyd Mayweather is the strong favourite to win.

    By the time Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao lace their gloves at the MGM Grand on Saturday night, five long years and 50 days will have passed since the original date slated for their welterweight blockbuster.

    Therefore, it’s little wonder a showdown the broadcasters deem muscular enough to carry its ‘Fight of the Century’ tag line, is also widely being billed as: ‘At Last…’

    Despite Mayweather – if not the greatest fighter of his time then certainly the greatest promoter in shorts – proclaiming that it’s “the perfect time”, by 2015 we really should already have a definitive answer to the eternal May/Pac debate.

    Perhaps what Mayweather meant is that it’s the perfect time… to make the most money.

    The phoney war has lasted over half a decade and any doubts as to the global appetite for battle to commence have been quickly drowned out by the sound of cash registers ringing. Should it go the full 12 rounds then the American will have earned around $5 million per minute, his Filipino dancing partner a cool $3.3 million.

    The world has invested heavily in this excruciating ‘will they, won’t they?’ saga and irrespective of the fact they are past their prime, people crave a conclusion.

    It’s a shame that the prestige of victory has been overshadowed somewhat by money in the build-up, although maybe there’s a certain inevitability given the eyewatering nature of the figures. And, as Oscar De La Hoya lamented in Dubai last week, it’s a direct consequence of having Mayweather at boxing’s zenith.

    The 38-year-old has never pretended glory is more important to him than financial reward and he again made that clear as he arrived at the MGM Grand this week.

    “Five years ago this was just a $50m fight. Ain’t Floyd smart?” he smirked, before taunting Pacquiao by adding: “Financially, he hasn’t been treated right for this fight. And this fight is all about the money.”

    For Mayweather it is always all about the money but for an entire generation of fight fans, it is so much more. We’ve all watched two magnificent careers unfold in parallel with a growing fury at their refusal to converge. Now we get our ending, our final scene.

    It’s testament to the enduring brilliance of both men that even in their twilight they still stand tall as the foremost exponents of their craft. The best of their generation, this remains unequivocally the biggest and best fight that can be made in boxing today.

    So, to crudely focus on cash does a disservice to the rich tapestry of sub-plots inextricably interwoven with the sport. All great fights, all transcendent athletics duels, are elevated by the narrative and this is no different. Both are champions. Both are legends. Both are old.

    Yet, aside from a mutual passion for basketball, that is also where the similarities end. While cash is Mayweather’s oxygen, he faces a career defining challenge from a man who values different currencies in life. In many ways, a man who embodies his very antithesis.

    There is Mayweather, boxing’s most powerful man, the world’s highest-paid athlete, brash, egocentric, awash with scandal, worshipping at the altar of material indulgence.

    The hard-nosed businessman who delights in telling fans: “Pay to see me win or pay to see me lose – you’re still paying.”

    Then there’s Pacquiao, his personal wealth diminished by well-documented acts of philanthropy, humble, smiling, the karaoke-singing congressman of Sarangani Province and devout christian. A demi-god to 90 million Filipinos versus a man respected, but not loved by his fellow countrymen. 

    Mayweather scowls his way to the ring flanked by flunky rappers and plastic pop acolytes; Pacquiao skips and dances, an army of family and friends behind him, a look of joy etched on his face, or as former foe Ricky Hatton put it: “Like me on my way to the chip shop.”

    It’s left hand versus right hand, attack versus defence, East versus West, altruism versus greed and, if you take the theme to its very extreme, as Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach did this week, it’s good versus evil.

    Apart from the fact the protagonists exist as polar opposites, the outcome will have huge ramifications for their respective legacies – there is so much more than three coveted slices of welterweight gold at stake in Las Vegas.

    Mayweather, among his self-styled monikers being ‘The Best Ever’, is already convinced he is peerless. Yet despite the most glittering of careers, he remains an anomaly in being a legend of the ring but not a celebrated hero.

    A domestic violence conviction, the endless arrogance and systematic abuse of his status to glean advantages over opponents have all sullied his wider perception. Yet victory here could see respect finally give way to reverance.

    After Saturday, Mayweather will have been involved in the top three highest-grossing bouts ever staged. That’s tribute to his ability to sell himself to the public as unbeatable.

    Now it’s Pacquiao’s turn to try and take his ‘0’, his very essence.

    At 36, can the Filipino rekindle the power and furious intensity of old that many believed made him the one man to trouble Mayweather like nobody has managed before? Will Mayweather adapt as he always has in the past, has he still got the reflexes, the footwork and the engine to gain control, then dictate the later rounds? Can it live up to the unprecedented hype and grandiose billing?

    Thankfully we’ll soon have all the answers. Indeed, at last…

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