Manny Pacquiao: Is Pac-Man Secretly Afraid to Fight Floyd Mayweather?

With every excuse in the book used by both sides for Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, could the real reason why the mega-fight may never happen be that Pacquiao is afraid of Money May?

As it seems that Mayweather has met all of Pacquiao's demands somewhere near middle ground, Pacquiao has been dodging the fight mostly on the basis of not wanting to blood test too close to the fight.

If Pacquiao thinks the blood testing gives Mayweather an advantage, he is wrong. Both fighters would get the blood tests at the same time and both fighters would face similar side effects—if any at all would happen to occur.

With the blood testing being Pacquiao's main hiccup, the only logical reason that Pacquiao is reluctant to take the fight would be that he is genuinely afraid to fight Mayweather.

Stepping into the ring with Mayweather means stepping in with an opponent that gives the greatest chance left to be dealt a loss to Pacquiao's recently unblemished record.

As his celebrity grows, a loss to Mayweather could bring his popularity crashing down and in turn take away money-making avenues outside of boxing.

Not only will he be letting down corporate America with a loss, he will let down his entire country of the Philippines—a country that adores him as much as any country adores anyone from their area.

Pacquiao's fans are so passionate about their prized export that a loss would crush the residents' hearts.

Pacquiao's loyal following has as much hate for Mayweather as it does love for Pacquiao, and losing to Money May could be hard for Pacquiao to recover from, fan-wise.

If Pacquiao lost support of even a small chunk of his followers, his political career in the Philippines could take a devastating blow, making it more difficult for Pacquiao to continue his political career with the same confidence, which could be detrimental to his political career.

All these reasons are enough, in my mind, to warrant an argument that Pacquiao could be scared to fight Mayweather. The loss in the ring would lead to him losing more battles outside of it, making life after boxing all the more difficult for Pacquiao in the future.