Manny Pacquiao's Final Days Being Wasted by Greed

Manny Pacquiao's brilliant career may fizzle out in drab fashion as the fight we all want to see continually gets brushed aside by greed. 

Manny Pacquiao will be fighting Timothy Bradley on June 9th, and not Floyd Mayweather on May 5th. That fact has everything to do with the sport's emphasis on posturing and getting the absolute last drop of juice from the low-hanging fruit. 

Some say that Money May is ducking Pac-Man. Other have it the other way around. The reality is they both want to get paid, and that means we all lose. 

Pacquiao recently divulged what was at the heart of a phone conversation between the two legendary boxers. From the Associated Press, via ESPN:

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"I was in the Philippines, and I told him, 'We need to make this fight happen,' " Pacquiao said. "I said I would agree to a 50-50 (split), and he said, 'Oh, I'll give you a $40 million guarantee, and no pay-per-view. I'll take all the pay-per-view.' I don't accept that offer. It's kind of embarrassing to me. It's trying to take advantage of me. He doesn't want to fight."

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Pacquiao not getting a 50-50 split in the spoils is ridiculous and completely unfair from just about any standpoint. 

I will agree that Pac-Man looked shaky against Juan Manuel Marquez, but he brings in a tremendous amount of pay-per-view buy revenue.

Pacquiao has been the face of boxing for the better part of a decade while Mayweather has seen fit to be an undefeated boxer content to retire, un-retire and continue to stay clear of Pacquiao in the ring. 

Pacquiao has since teased that he is flirting with ending it all, and Bradley could very well be his final fight. Trainer Freddie Roach explains what's at the heart of a potential retirement:

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He says God doesn't want him to hurt people. That bothers me a little bit, but Manny has always been a compassionate person.

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Pacquiao has lost his taste for blood and that is not how you want to approach any fight. Meanwhile, Mayweather wants to make sure he gets every last cent he says is owed to him if the two ever meet in the ring. 

When that is the only thing coming from that camp, staying in the sport can lose its luster. I hate to see Pacquiao leave boxing, but you can understand it. 

If he indeed cannot guarantee a split share—something he has earned by becoming a global icon and one of the sport's best—then there is nobody else left to box. 

It would be easy to say he should just fight for pride, because the same could be said for Mayweather, who is all about the green. 

Pacquiao only has a fight or two left, and they will be far less than what he ever aspired for them to be, and that's because greed drowns this wonderful sport. 

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