Mayweather vs. Pacquiao: Why Floyd Mayweather Needs This Fight to Happen Most

The eternal debate continues to rage on. Will they ever get ready to rumble?

In January of this year, we'd hoped Mayweather had set in motion the proceedings needed to ink a fight deal with his Twitter call-out.

The only factor the world thought remained was for the two to find a middle ground. This is easier said than done when Money Mayweather is at the negotiation table.

Unfortunately, it would appear that the middle ground for Mayweather is somewhere on the side of Pac-Man's 50 percent. It is understandable that in every walk of life you want to get what you think you deserve. In this case, there is no way to separate or calculate the worth of one boxer over the other. They are both colossal box-office draws.

It will have to be a down-the-middle split if we are to ever see these two greats lace up against each other.

It's a no-brainer that both men need the other if the fight is to take place, but the overriding factor Floyd Mayweather needs to wake up to is that his record needs Pacquiao's name on it most of all. 

Should he retire having failed to go toe-to-toe with the Philippine native, it will read as glaringly unimpressive as a flawless career will look remarkable.

Pacquiao has lost previously. He can accept that if you fight the biggest and best, there is a chance you will get tagged somewhere along the line. For this reason, I don't see Pacquiao fearing an encounter with Mayweather. If he fails to win, so be it. He is as humble as he is ferocious and would take it on the chin, metaphorically and physically, and move on.

Mayweather, however, needs to cease the charade of ducking and diving while hiding behind numbers and figures. He symbolizes everything that is wrong with the modern-day athlete. If you don't believe me, just watch HBO's 24/7.

In a sport that is built upon toughness and combativeness, his attitude should have no place.

While I don't doubt that egos are essential for the ring, in most cases they make rather than hinder the battles we love and re-watch. It is when the ego gets in the way of the bout being scheduled that it becomes a very sore and disappointing factor.

If you take your mind back to the 1980s, you will remember the battle of Marvin Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard. Hagler would be labelled as having had a quite substantial ego at that time. Can you call it any other way with a man who legally changed his name to Marvelous?

His fearsome foe, Leonard, was also never shy in detailing his capabilities. Both fell into the category of men with a heightened sense of self importance.

These kinds of clashes of personality are what make the fight game so enthralling. When you take the two boxers mentioned above, you know that they could back their words up. Thankfully, the verbosity of both men pre-fight never prevented us from discussing a post-fight.

Boxing is built upon the ethos of one man fighting another and the best man wins. While there are huge sums of money involved, this should not be the reason why the boxing world may be robbed of a truly epic contest.

Mayweather needs to think Barrera/Morales or Gatti/Ward. They fought because that's what they were built to do. They may have been paid, but it pales in comparison to what Mayweather and Pacquiao will earn.

The time is now to cement a legacy. Don't let the opportunity slip away, Floyd.