Pacquiao vs. Mayweather: Will it ever happen? *

* Originally published on June 22, 2010

After Floyd Mayweather Jr. demolished welterweight veteran and former champion Shane Mosley a couple of months ago, it’s only logical that he fights reigning pound-for-pound king, Manny Pacquiao. After all, Pacman just outpointed Ghanian defensive specialist Joshua Clottey in 12 rounds. Months before that, he obliterated Puerto Rican champion Miguel Cotto before the referee stopped the fight in round 12.

At this point, all roads point to a Pacquiao vs. Mayweather tiff. Without a doubt, this fight should have happened if the talks between the two camps didn’t collapse early this year. So what’s preventing these guys from fighting arguably the biggest fight in boxing history?

Why it should happen

It’s a rare occasion that two boxers can lay claim as being the best fighter in the sport at the same time. The last time that it happened was when Sugar Ray Leonard fought Roberto Duran and Marvin Hagler. After the legendary bouts between three equally-matched fighters, succeeding pound-for-pound fighters tended to stay virtually unchallenged. Aside from that, most of them didn’t belong in the same weight class so fights could not happen.

In Pacquiao and Mayweather, both fighters are of the same age and that means they have reached their prime at the same time. Pacquiao is a seven-time champion and the first one to ever achieve that feat. Since his loss to Erik Morales back in 2005, Pacquiao has been 12-0 with eight of those wins coming via knockouts. Mayweather on the other hand, is unbeaten and with five championship belts, is ranked as the pound-for-pound king until he retired in 2007.

The interesting thing about Pacquiao and Mayweather is that both of them have occupied the pound-for-pound throne at one of their careers. In addition to that, they occupy the same weight class so a fight between them is absolutely possible.

Both fighters will be future Hall-of-Famers when they retire and with the way they’re doing, they will certainly be in the discussion as two of the greatest fighters to ever wear boxing gloves. With their legacy already secured, a fight between the two is the perfect exclamation point to their illustrious careers.

Aside from the glory and individual accolades, a fight of this magnitude has the potential to offer the biggest purse in boxing history. Put it simply, both Pacquiao and Mayweather will get their biggest paycheck if ever they decide to quit talking and start fighting.

Why it didn’t happen

Back in December 2009, the Pacquiao-Mayweather tiff appeared to be done deal. According to reports, both fighters already agreed to a 50-50 purse split and eight-ounce gloves are going to be used in the welterweight limit.

Initially, both camps have already worked out everything except where the fight will be held.

When everything was almost ironed out, the Mayweather camp started calling out for Olympic-style drug testing for both fighters before the fight. That means urine and blood will be drawn from both Pacquiao and Mayweather to ensure that neither of them is under the influence of performance-enhancing drugs.

It can be recalled that Floyd Mayweather Sr. has angered Pacquiao’s camp by accusing that the Filipino boxing superstar has been using performance-enhancing drugs.

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Mayweather badmouths Pacquiao (pinaswatcher5)

Pacquiao agreed initially to Mayweather’s demands, but he eventually backed out reasoning that blood drawn 24 days before the fight will weaken him. Pacquiao already had a similar experience back in 2005 when blood was drawn from him two weeks before his first fight against Erik Morales. He believed that the blood test weakened him greatly, claiming that it was the biggest factor why he lost the bout against the Mexican legend.

Things worsened when Pacquiao filed a defamation lawsuit against Richard Schaefer, Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Floyd Mayweather Sr., and Roger Mayweather. Because of that, negotiations for the highly-anticipated Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight went down the drain completely.

What happened next?

The complete collapse of the fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather only means that boxing fans would never see two of the era’s best pugilists in the ring at the same time.

Because of that, Pacquiao moved on to claim his 7^th world championship in as many divisions by beating Cotto. Months later, he obliterated the game, yet obviously overmatched Clottey to defend his welterweight title. Winning didn’t only happen inside the boxing ring for Pacquiao. Last June, he finally won a congressional seat in the province of Sarangani in this year’s National Elections.

Mayweather on the other hand, didn’t become a politician, but his convincing beatdown of Mosley was enough for some to put him on top of the pound-for-pound list. Though many questioned Mosley’s conditioning because of his long layoff, he is still a legitimate welterweight contender that Mayweather outboxed and outclassed for 12 rounds.

The biggest thing about his fight is that he beat a relatively “easier” opponent, yet raking as much as 22.5 million dollars as opposed to Mosley’s seven million. Mayweather’s earning for the bout is the biggest purse ever for a boxer outside of the heavyweight class. With the win, he can go into the 160-pound territory and challenge Argentine stylist Sergio Martinez to try and claim his sixth world title.

For Pacquiao on the other hand, people are already clamoring for a rematch with Cotto, who just snatched the 154-pound belt from Yuri Foreman. If he is able to beat Cotto for the second time, he will set another record by getting an unprecedented eight world titles.

Will it happen?

So the big question now is will this fight ever happen? Right now, there are talks that both camps are willing to sit down again to start negotiations. However, there are indications that Mayweather doesn’t want a 50-50 purse split anymore.

In a perfect world, this matchup between two boxing Titans should happen. Then again, both Pacquiao and Mayweather have found that they really don’t need each other at this point in their respective careers.

If they were just a few years younger, with still a lot to prove, one of them would perhaps cave in to the demands of the other. However, since both of them have already reached the top of the boxing world, they can afford to slam the door if they don’t agree to terms discussed on the negotiating table.

The thing is, why would they run away from the richest and perhaps the greatest boxing event in the last 20 years? At this point, it’s all up to Pacquiao and Mayweather.