| 07 January 2010
Both BoxingScene and the Las Vegas Review-Journal are reporting that what would have been the richest fight in boxing history, Floyd Mayweather, Jr.-Manny Pacquiao, is dead. The Review-Journal reported that Mayweather turned down an unspecified compromise Top Rank and Golden Boy worked out during mediation. BoxingScene reported that Mayweather wouldn't accept a 24-day cutoff for blood testing proposed by Pacquiao's side [UPDATE: Top Rank boss Bob Arum says the same thing]. The Review-Journal says Top Rank will soon announce Pacquiao would move up from welterweight to junior middleweight to fight Yuri Foreman.
So is Mayweather-Pacquiao dead, or dead-dead? Nothing's dead-dead in boxing until it's dead-dead-DEAD, but this is bad news, news that borders on heart-breaking. It won't happen in March, according to the reports. The possibility that they'll fight in September isn't good enough for me. This was a chance for boxing to seize back the days when a fight could be a massive pop-culture event; some have suggested this fight could generate a Superbowl-like excitement, and I don't think that's overstating the matter much. There's no guarantee that the fight will happen in September, even, since the same issues will persist that prevented both boxers from wanting $40 million apiece more than they wanted some stupid shit. At the most pivotal moment in the sport's renaissance that began a couple years ago, boxing has once again apparently found a way to squander it away.
Barring a dramatic reversal, I have to consider quite seriously whether I can bring myself to care about this sport again. It's that dire. If the two best boxers alive inhabit the same weight class and can't manage to fight each other, what's the point? Athletic competition is about the best pitted against the best, and the ultimate example of that in boxing is Mayweather-Pacquiao. If this is truly the end of that fight, all I can say to Top Rank, Golden Boy, Pacquiao and especially Mayweather is this: Enjoy life back like it used to be, when the sport you have soiled was more of a backwater curiosity than it's become. You'll be a lot poorer for it. And because of some stupid shit. Some blood testing. It even sounds like a joke. Try and live this one down.
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