Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao: Must They Be Sacrificed to Save Boxing?

May 5, 2007, Floyd Mayweather (41-0, 25 KOs) defeated Oscar De La Hoya (39-6, 30 KOs) in a heavily promoted mega-fight.

Dec. 6, 2008, Manny Pacquiao (53-3-2, 38 (KOs) also defeated De La Hoya, becoming a star in the process while retiring a fallen star.

They became stars through beating a star. Now boxing eggs the two to face each other, but what happens once they do?

Will the winner of Mayweather vs Pacquiao just retire? Will the loser see a point in fighting unless he can get a rematch with the winner?

Mayweather and Pacquiao are reaching the same waning years of pugilism De La Hoya reached when he fought them.

Though a mega-fight between the two will undoubtedly be highly anticipated, boxing will likely crave both men to be defeated by the next generation's prime contender.

Mayweather has begun what could become a gauntlet of bloodthirsty young guns with an extra bounce in their step and pop in their punch.

The 34-year-old Mayweather is set to take on the 24-year old Victor Ortiz (29-2-2, 22 KOs) Sept. 17, 2011.

Reports have also come in saying Mayweather has agreed to face 24-year-old WBA light welterweight world champion Amir Khan (25-1, 17 KOs) next year.

In response, 32-year-old Pacquiao is looking to face undefeated 28-year-old Mike Jones (24-0, 18 KOs) and 27-year-old undefeated world titlist Timothy Bradley (27-0, 11 KOs) next year.

Pacquiao and Mayweather have already failed to negotiate a fight with each other on at least two occasions.

If the fight fails again, one can assume they'll just continue to try to outdo each other.

In the midst of trying to one-up each other by facing the more dangerous opponent, these aging warriors may fall victim to one of their young and hungry competitors.

Shane Mosley (46-7, 39 KOs) was a man never known for his evasive ability until he outran Pacquiao this past May.

Pacquiao hit Mosley so hard he went on the retreat for the first time in his fearless career. A 39-year-old Mosley was able to dance around and away from Pacquiao for an entire fight.

Who's to say someone who's almost 10 years Mosley's junior and more evasive won't be able to do better?

Jones and Bradley are both far more evasive than Mosley and are getting better everyday and with each fight they win.

Mayweather has had problems with pressure fighters in his past such as Jose Luis Castillo (62-11-1, 53 KOs).

Ortiz is a younger, bigger, and even faster version of the same type of fighter that has given Mayweather trouble his whole career.

On top of everything, Ortiz is a southpaw (left-handed fighter).

Mayweather's arguably toughest contests came against southpaws such as DeMarcus Corley (37-17-1, 22 KOs) and Zab Judah (41-6, 28 KOs).

Boxing would be empty of its only megastars if Pacquiao and Mayweather suddenly departed. Creating a megastar from scratch is hard to do.

De La Hoya had help from his inspiring and heavily publicized story of winning Olympic gold to fulfill his mother's dying wish.

Unless Khan, Ortiz, Jones, or any of the other young fighters develops an interesting personal story the media can exploit, a victory over Pacquiao or Mayweather is necessary to properly pass the torch.