Mayweather vs. Pacquiao: Loss To Bradley Would Derail Super Fight Possibility

Cowards love excuses.

If Manny Pacquiao wants to fight Floyd Mayweather, he must first defeat Timothy Bradley. If he loses, that’ll give Mayweather another excuse not to fight him.

Excuse No. 1: performance-enhancing drugs.

According to ESPN, Mayweather told Larry Merchant after defeating Miguel Cotto: “I want to fight Pacquiao, but he needs to take the tests before we make that fight.” 

Pretty Boy Floyd continued, “If you’re the best, take the test,” even though Pac-Man already agreed to. Pac-Man announced on his official website in January: “To all of my fans…Mayweather just needs to agree to and accept a 50 percent split, and if he does, then the fight will go through. He’s the one who needs to agree.”

Excuse debunked.

Excuse No. 2: money.

Bob Velin of USA Today reported that Mayweather also said after his latest fight:

"

I'm just really tired of the media and the people being fooled. The truth is, Bob Arum is not going to let the fight happen. It's not on me. I went to Pacquiao and offered him $40 million, and told him I would wire him $20 million within 48 hours. He turned me down and said he wanted a 50-50 split. I'm like, how can you ask for 50-50 and you're not doing the same numbers that I'm doing.

"

Arum is Pac’s promoter.

And I don’t know about you, but I’m curious to know what numbers Money May is looking at. According to Forbes, not only is Pacquiao the more powerful celebrity, he’s worth more money too.

Excuse debunked.

If Mayweather is already living those lies, what makes you think that he wouldn’t twist a Pacquiao loss into another? If Pac-Man loses, prepare yourself to hear Mayweather say: he isn’t a worthy opponent. As absurd as that statement sounds, it wouldn't exactly be a new development for him to make such an outlandish claim.

But Arum isn’t the least bit surprised about Mayweather’s multitude of excuses. He said (via USA Today):

"

I know him very well; I know how vulnerable he is to the left hand. The only one he fought was Zab Judah, and Judah gave him a tough fight and would've beat him if he hadn't been so stupid and been in great shape. The hardest thing in the world when I had him was to get him to fight a southpaw. He does not want to fight Pacquiao. There will always be an excuse.

"

Pacquiao already has to weave his way through a pair of Mayweather’s lame excuses to fight him. That’ll be hard enough. If Pac were to give him three, there’s no way the super fight would happen.

Mayweather is absolutely terrified that his flawless record will suffer a scratch. His legacy would be scarred enough from a loss to Pacquiao right now.

If Pacquiao loses to Bradley, Pac-Man would be labeled 'washed up'. Mayweather would never risk fighting a washed-up Pac because the scar created by a loss would be even more damning. And then would come the domino effect—fans would then urge Mayweather to fight Bradley who'd emerge as another fighter that he'd have to dodge.

That aftermath is one giant catastrophe that Mayweather is capable of avoiding by simply continuing to avoid Pacquiao. And if Pac-Man loses, that's exactly what's going to happen.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

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