Let’s all give a big hand to this morning’s guest poster:
By Rob Sylvester
Manny Pacquiao likes to throw a lot of punches. In the ring, in the political world (he recently won a seat in the Philippines congress by a landslide), and, apparently, in the realm of Internet smack. Toprank.com, the website of Pacquiao’s promotion company, has posted a countdown clock to their Friday night at Midnight deadline for Floyd “Money” Mayweather to agree to the sport’s next Battle of the Greats, a proposed November tilt in Las Vegas (the fight has been in the works for months but apparently two professional assassins don’t want to play nice).
Recent speculation has centered on the possibility that Mayweather is afraid of Pac-Man and doesn’t want to risk a blight on his perfect professional record — an ignomity that would drop him from the esteemed heights of Rocky Marciano to the low, low levels of Rocky Balboa. Mayweather wants the fight to wait until 2011 — presumably to get himself in tip top shape for the last true challenger of his career, the only thing standing between Mayweather & his legacy (aside from his own seemingly insatiable thirst for more spotlight).
So what route does Top Rank take? Public shaming, of course! Hence the not-so-cleverly named ” ‘Money’ Time: Mayweather’s Decision.” In this little sign of Flash-enabled bravado, they’ve drawn a line in the digital sand, and in the process Mayweather has been put in a bit of a spot — if he doesn’t agree to the fight, the Pacquiao camp can go forward saying that they were behind the fight entirely, portraying Mayweather as the sole reason the match-up fell apart. Think of finger-pointing in Elementary school, only with a lot more gold chains and shifty old guys in sweatsuits.
On the other hand, if Mayweather does agree to the fight by midnight Pacific time tonight, he’ll appear to be giving in to an arbitrary deadline set by his opponent, a sign of tactical weakness certainly not befitting the self-professed Greatest of All Time. What remains to be seen is if Pac-Man’s team is serious — if Mayweather were to let the deadline pass, and then announce in a week or two that he wants the fight, are they going to stick to their guns, or follow the cash? Plan B is supposed to be Miguel Cotto, a fine fighter in his own right who nonetheless doesn’t bring the cachet and revenue power of Mayweather, the biggest star in the sport. Smart money is on the fight happening (simply too much to be gained by all parties involved) but we’ll have to wait to see how this plays out to know when.
What does Mayweather himself have to say about all this? In a shocking upset, he was unavailable for comment. However his promoter, Richard Shaefer, offered up this cryptic response:
“There are a few clocks I’d like to put up, too, but we won’t go there.”
Um, touche? Not really sure what he’s getting at, but all this clock talk has Flava Flav salivating. Well, something does. As for Mayweather, we shouldn’t expect him to be silent for too long, and the biggest story in the boxing world right now is how he reacts. Mayweather loves the spotlight, but it’s usually him pushing the envelope, not his opponent. Who knows how he’ll respond?
There is one thing I think we can all agree on though — can somebody please make one of these for Brett Favre? And set it to April? Of last year?
***
Pacquiao promoter starts ‘countdown clock for Mayweather [Los Angeles Times]
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- Tom - Jul 16, 2010 at 12:00 PM
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Time to put up or shut up Mayweather! If he passes on this fight….again….his perfect record will hardly be perfect. The overwhelming majority agree Mayweather continues to dance around this fight because he’s afraid of the realistic possibility of losing to Pacquiao. The fans have begged for this fight for WAY too long. C’mon “Money”!!! Pacman is unavoidable if you are to be recorded in histoy with the boxing legacy you aim for! Stop the landslide of disrespect and take this fight!!!!!!
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- SRBINAT - Jul 16, 2010 at 12:57 PM
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Floyd is a coward of the first kind. Manny will destroy him. This time the ring wont be big enough for him to back peddle and look pretty. He just is mortified of getting hit. To be a true champion you have to hit the floor few times, get up and still win.
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- loungefly - Jul 16, 2010 at 1:00 PM
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Agree Tom. If he doesn’t take this fight, he is tarnished. In some ways he already is by only fighting guys out of their primes and such. Here is a perfect chance to shut all the doubters up. He needs to do it. Personally, I think Pacman will destroy him.
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- JBP - Jul 16, 2010 at 1:45 PM
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Maywweather should just admit to it: ” I’m scared shitless of Manny P.”. All of the sudden, Mayweather wants to clean up boxing by using Olympic drug testing to try to prove that Manny P. is on steroids. He calls himself the best P for P boxer in the word, PROVE IT.
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- Nazzlow - Jul 16, 2010 at 1:55 PM
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Pac-man by UD, after picking Money apart. Mayweather may get 2 rounds out of it, if he’s lucky.
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- Chad - Jul 16, 2010 at 2:02 PM
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Pacman doesn’t care if he’s hit as long as he hit you. Even though Floyd is going to hit Pacman he still have to defend a thousand hits; as soon as Pacman hit him twice or thrice he will just cover up and shoulder roll up to the end of the fight. That’s the big difference between him and Pacman. Pacman is a warrior at all cost and will attack Floyd every round and one more thing is, Pacman is younger than Floyd.
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- JMONEY - Jul 16, 2010 at 2:21 PM
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mayweather will destroy him theres a reason he’s undefeated. he’s the shit.. pacmans on steriods that why he wont agree to the fight
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- NewPacmanFan - Jul 16, 2010 at 2:34 PM
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i used to be a mayweather fan but im now convinced that mayweather is just a coward and probably would lose to Pacquiao. but if he mans up and takes the fight, i wont route for floyd this time, because he’s just scared and Pacquiao deserves to be called the true P4P. Pacquiao by 8th rd KO.
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- Pledge! - Jul 16, 2010 at 2:40 PM
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Sorry to disappoint you but i disagree! i’m not taking anything away from Pacman But Floyd mastered 52 and for all thoughs like myself who was born in the 60′s knows 52 will come to terms that even though pacman can fight, i doubt that pacman can beat Floyd… It’s a lost art which Floyd had the privilege of learning from old school fighters like his uncle & father! i think Floyd will win by a close decision but i guess we all will see in the near future.
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- Kirk - Jul 16, 2010 at 3:07 PM
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1) I like Manny but anybody that knows anything about boxing knows he can’t beat Floyd (All you FELLOW Manny fans leave your phone #s; if they do fight I’ll be happy to take your $).
2) If the fight doesn’t happen who in the hell would be stupid enough to pay to see Manny fight Cotto again or “the hands of plaster” ?
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- Mayfan - Jul 16, 2010 at 3:56 PM
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Although I’m filipino I am still not convince Pacman is pound for pound the best fighter in his weight class. If I have to put my money, I’ll put it on Mayweather on at least a TKO. The “Pacman” has fought, yes- champions, but they were way past their prime. The fight against Oscar De LaHoya was a big surprise for me. Oscar was beyond is prime and was retired from the ring for a while. The Mexican fighters, were all past their prime as well. All of Pacman’s fights were to give credibility and heighten his status in the boxing world by fighting past champions who were still trying to hang on to past glory. There is an old saying- money talks. If enough money is flaunted in someones face (past champions), they will come out of retirement for another big pay day. Hell, if someone flaunted me enough cash I’ll jump in the ring myself. But the money has to be enoough to cover my medical expenses afterwards. Anyjhjow, this is my take about the whole Pacman frenzy.
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- Mayfan - Jul 16, 2010 at 3:57 PM
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Although I’m filipino I am still not convince Pacman is pound for pound the best fighter in his weight class. If I have to put my money, I’ll put it on Mayweather on at least a TKO. The “Pacman” has fought, yes- champions, but they were way past their prime. The fight against Oscar De LaHoya was a big surprise for me. Oscar was beyond is prime and was retired from the ring for a while. The Mexican fighters, were all past their prime as well. All of Pacman’s fights were to give credibility and heighten his status in the boxing world by fighting past champions who were still trying to hang on to past glory. There is an old saying- money talks. If enough money is flaunted in someones face (past champions), they will come out of retirement for another big pay day. Hell, if someone flaunted me enough cash I’ll jump in the ring myself. But the money has to be enoough to cover my medical expenses afterwards. Anyhow, this is my take about the whole Pacman frenzy.
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- boxer - Jul 16, 2010 at 5:24 PM
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mayweather is not afraid of manny, mayweather simply wants a honest fight by conducting to drug tests, that’s it, and by manny not complying i beleive hes hiding something, i hope hell take the tests and let this great bout become a realization ..mayweather all the way !
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- the truth - Jul 16, 2010 at 5:56 PM
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WTF r u guys talking about?! Manny agreed to the testing up to the fight… SO WHATS MAYWEATHERS NEXT EXCUSE?!?! he wants a 55/45 split?? if he asks for that manny should give it to him just to show how much he really wants this fight….
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- one9combo - Jul 16, 2010 at 9:19 PM
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everyone is dying to fight Pacman and this chicken is stalling AGAIN. this is why i dont give mayweather his credit, No heart. How is Pacquiao challenging fighters bigger that him(Cotto, Clottey, Mayweather), meanwhile mayweather is challenging fighters smaller than him (Marquez) hehehe this dont make no sense. I never hear of mayweather telling paul williams or sergio martinez he wants to fight. He dodged Cotto for years. Mayweather is a fraud. he might be undefeated in the books but definetely not in mine. watch how Castillo picks mayweather apart in mayweather castillo 1. Manny is going to chop this clown down. Pacquiao round 8
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- luffy - Jul 16, 2010 at 11:22 PM
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YOU ARE NOT A FILIPINO,
I agree w/the truth, for all the gayweather fans here, Manny just agreed for the damn drug testing demands now time for this chicken to step up and take the challenge. Let me remind you that back then Manny agreed for his blood to be taken a week before and “IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE FIGHT”, again “IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE FIGHT”…
How is fighting a 40 yr.old Shane Mosley great? WTF?! He should fight Cotto, Margarito, Williams, Pavlik and should’ve fought Mosley when he was in his prime for him to prove his worth…
