Let The Battle Begin!

BREAKING NEWS! - IT HAS just been determined that the Manny Pacquiao/Floyd Mayweather Fight in On!!  Manny Pacquiao has just consented to Mayweather's demands that mandatory 'Blood Testing' take place within 30 minutes of the FIGHT: Pacquiao has consented to having a Quart to Half-gallon of blood removed in order to make the Fight happen.  Jes'kidd'n!  Seriously, though! - the fight that will rescue boxing!  I for one do not believe that 'the sweet science' is in need of 'rescue'.  I believe that the novelty of MMA and OCTOGON will go the way of WWF; by no means, however, am I suggesting that MMA or the 'Octogon'/or the like! is in any way fake.  I recently witnessed a fighter get his arm broken in the ring.  It disturbed me almost as much as the rape scene in DELIVERANCE.  THAT was the last time I remember being so disturbed watching television.  It is such novelty that has given boxing a less than savory name.  It is that kind of novelty that will eventually wear thin and will pale in comparison to the likes of 'Johnson-Jeffries'; 'Johnson-Williard'; or 'Dempsey through the Ropes'; or the sagas of 'Sugar Ray Robinson'.  'Circus Acts' will come to be seen as such but the sheer drama of the sort mentioned with the great matches, the raw talent, 'the human drama of athletic competition', will forever capture the imagination of the public.  Class and character will always win out over the crass and tasteless, though the latter helps to sell tickets.  In stark contrast to the trash-talking and tastelessness all too-prevalent in today's contact-sports, I think of Marciano's humble comment before a fight: "I hope I win."  

It is this sort of story/narrative and raw talent personified in the Pacquiao - Mayweather Fight.  I am hard pressed to pick a winner.  Watching Mayweather carve up Gaty like the turkey we just finished; polish off Ricky Hatton, I cannot think of greater boxing talent in my lifetime, including another 'Sugar'-Ray Leonard as well as Muhammad Ali.  Mayweather may actually be a superior boxer!  Then Manny Pacquiao continues to defy expectations - in his last two fights.  Could he do the same with Mayweather as he did Hatton and Cotto?  Might Mayweather as aptly handle Pacquiao as his other opponents?  It would be a shame to have such questions go unanswered.

Heretofore, the nearest thing to a test that Mayweather has yet had was with Oscar DeLahoya - in which he ran.  I hope that Mayweather is not 'running' from Pacquiao; I hope that he does not forego this his greatest test.  If he foregoes this epic battle, he will be the loser for this as well as the public as well as the sport of boxing and the sporting world.  Yes, I'll say it: he needs Pacquiao. 

The loss of a quart of blood would be such an advantage Mayweather could well use, moreso than Pacquiao's alleged use of steroids or other 'illegal' substances.  Let the Battle begin!