Mayweather vs. Pacquiao: Megafight Must Happen While Both Are Still Relevant

As of May 26, 2012, a fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao looks unlikely, especially in the near future. The two sides appear miles apart on many of the key issues. 

But if the megafight is to eventually happen, the two biggest faces in boxing need to make the fight happen while both are still relevant in the sport. The relevancy clock continues to tick faster for both fighters. 

Pacquiao has continued to express an interest in fighting Mayweather, but there are clear hurdles to an agreement happening with the way negotiations have went down. Mayweather's split of the pay-per-view money is at the forefront for Pacquiao. 

From BoxingScene.com:

"

The only thing preventing a fight between Floyd Mayweather and me is Floyd Mayweather. He no longer wants to split the pay-per-view revenue with me equally, something he agreed to in our first negotiation. Will the fight ever happen? It's up to Floyd. I hope it does. I'm a competitor and I enjoy a challenge. I know the fans want to see us fight. I think it would be good for boxing. As long as I continue fighting I will remain hopeful that the fight will take place.

"

That last part of Pacquiao's statement jumps off the page. "As long as I continue fighting..." screams loudly that the decorated career of the eight-division world champion is slowly, but surely, coming to a close.

Pacquiao will be 34 years old this December, and it's possible that any fight with Mayweather could take 18 months or more to successfully set up. That would pin Pacquiao at 35 or even 36 years old by the time the two fighters faced off. 

At that point, would a fight even be worth it for either boxer?

Mayweather hasn't exactly went out of his own way to get a fight agreement completed. In fact, Mayweather may be closer to retirement from boxing than anyone wants to admit, especially after his hard fought win over Miguel Cotto earlier this month. 

According to Sports Illustrated, Mayweather "hinted at retirement" after his May fight with Cotto. He also said that a fight between the two men "is not going to happen," which makes it unlikely that any agreement would get done between the two in the near future. 

Mayweather isn't even sure a fight should happen. 

"I don't know where we're going to go from here because we basically have fought everybody in this sport," Mayweather told SI. "I don't have to fight if I don't want to."

Mayweather is currently 35 years old, and as we speculated with Pacquiao, a fight between the two could take over a year to materialize. That timeline puts Mayweather in an older bracket in terms of boxing careers, which could mean Mayweather is out of the sport before the fight is ever put on paper. 

There's also the dynamic of a declining skill set for each boxer.

Pacquiao won a controversial decision over Juan Manuel Marquez last November, which opened up some questions on how much longer Pacman will be the dominant boxer that he has been over the span of his career. Pacquiao has won 15 straight decisions, however. 

A match against Timothy Bradley in early June will be telling in how much left Pacquiao has in the boxing tank. 

Mayweather is in the same boat.

While he won a unanimous decision over Cotto in May, he called the fight one of his toughest, according to SI. There were clear signs of slippage from the otherwise unblemished Mayweather.

"You're a hell of a champion," Mayweather told Cotto, via SI. "You're the toughest guy I ever fought."

All these factors put a definitive timeline on a fight between the two. Both fighters are aging and slipping in skills, which would put a serious damper on any mega fight down the road.

If Pacquiao and Mayweather can't come to an agreement on a fight soon—within the next 10-12 months—the fight should never happen. While the draw is going to be historic regardless, the sport deserves the fight right now. 

Watching too washed up boxers three years down the road taking one last dip into the money pot would be a sad conclusion to this never-ending drama.