Mayweather vs Pacquiao: Failure to Battle Will Damage Both Fighters' Legacies

Boxing legends Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao are only hurting themselves by not fighting each other.

It's kind of ironic, isn't it?

Both fighters have been seemingly ducking this fight forever now, and one could only assume it's because neither one truly wants to put their greatness on the line. Yet, in doing so, both men are literally robbing themselves and their eventual legacies in the sport of boxing.

Forget their records; greatness and legacies aren't always determined by the books.

The court of public opinion is what should matter to both of these fighters, and as of right now, neither can achieve their goal of being the best of their era without defeating the other.

It's inevitable that one of them would have to lose, but if they don't fight, both of them will end up looking like losers.

Perhaps that would be the only fitting end to this saga, though—disappointment and uncertainty.

That certainly sums up the state of boxing in this era.

How can you consider yourself the best in the sport if you didn't fight the other boxer that felt the same thing about himself? How can you talk so much trash about another fighter, yet be unwilling to back it up in the ring?

We all know the ring is the only place a boxer can truly prove himself.

One day, when Pacquiao retires—which may be sooner rather than later, according to Tom Weir ofUSA Today—we will look back and remember how great of a fighter he was.

One day, when Mayweather retires, we will look back and think the same thing.

In the same breath, though, will come the fact that neither fighter was courageous or bold enough to put his legacy on the line to fight the other.

Both fighters will be remembered as great, but neither will be able to achieve the legendary status they crave without putting it all on the line in between the ropes.