Mayweather vs. Pacquiao: Pressure on Fight to Live Up to Protracted Negotiations

It may all be one big, weird coincidence (it totally is), but it appears high time in American culture for our long-awaited pet projects. In the last three months, D'Angelo released his long-awaited follow-up to 2000's Voodoo, Eddie Murphy returned to Saturday Night Live after more than three decades of bitterness, and last week, Floyd Mayweather announced he'd finally be getting into the ring with Manny Pacquiao.

The long-awaited fight—once billed as the bout that could save boxing—will take place May 2 at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. It comes after more than a half-decade of off-and-on negotiations, which included a two-month back-and-forth that nearly saw the rug pulled out from under fight fans again.

There was pushing and pulling between HBO and Showtime, the pay-cable giants who hold Pacquiao and Mayweather's contract rights, respectively. There was a purse, which could see nine-figure paydays for both fighters, to split. And then there were years of vile-filled rhetoric to get over, the type of he-said-he-said bickering that made many skeptical these two would ever get into the ring.

"I knew eventually it would happen, but everything takes time," Mayweather said, per Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports. "Everything in life is about timing. I have a good team and I waited until the time was right. He waited until the time was right, and the two teams came together and we made the fight happen."

Some, including a vast majority of fight fans, would disagree with Mayweather's characterization as this being the "right" time. The "right" time, they say, would have been when the fight was first negotiated in 2010. Back when Pacquiao was a one-man wrecking crew and establishing himself as one of the most powerful pound-for-pound fighters in history. Back when Mayweather was the slick-footed king of boxing, perhaps the greatest combination of in-ring intelligence and physical skills we'd seen in nearly a half-century.

The "right" time would have been when these two fighters were great—not when Mayweather is looking to finish his six-fight contract with a Scrooge McDuck bang and the most lasting image of Pacquiao is a meme-able image after he was knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez.

Pride and ego (and drug testing) caused the best boxing rivalry of this generation to be defined more by words than action. Now, some five years later, Mayweather and Pacquiao come together and offer a hollowed-out version of what could have been.

Mayweather and Pacquiao are still great fighters; there's no denying that. Most pound-for-pound lists still have Mayweather No. 1 now as they did then, and Pacquiao is not far behind. But Manny is 36, and Floyd turns 38 on Tuesday. We're barely more than two years removed from wondering if Pacquiao was done for good, and it was only last May a relative nobody named Marcos Maidana ascended to national fame by testing Mayweather like few ever had.

Al Bello/Getty Images

This is not a clash of two of the greatest fighters of all time. This is a clash between two guys who used to be all-time greats. Two guys looking squarely at the end of their careers and agreeing to fight because, oh what the hell, why not?

“He can see the end,” Stephen Espinoza, Showtime’s boxing czar, said of Mayweather, per Greg Bishop of Sports Illustrated. “That may have forced him to consider what it would be like to end his career without fighting the one guy that everyone wants to see him fight. That caused him to redouble his efforts.”

You can see the narrative mechanisms spinning. A hard-fought, close match in May followed by a rematch in September. Maybe the third in a trilogy in May or September 2016 if they split the two fights. Hundreds of millions in the pockets, and millions of fans satisfied they finally got to see these two fight.

Except the ones who wonder what could have been.

That's the funny thing about legends. You're never in the moment watching them. Everything is compared to their past work.

D'Angelo's Black Messiah was a mumble-filled letdown to Voodoo's classic brilliance, only propped up critically because "Holy crap D'Angelo is making new music." Eddie Murphy got onstage at Saturday Night Live and basically shrugged his shoulders for a minute-and-a-half because he's not funny anymore, because he's got one too many Norbits in his system, because he's "too good" for this stage despite a number of better, more accomplished actors gamely participating.

Andy Kropa/Associated Press

Oh, and why the hell won't Kanye make another College Dropout?

When Pacquiao and Mayweather finally step into the ring May 2, they're not fighting each other. They're fighting shadows of themselves. They're fighting against the perception that their own egos ruined this moment by making the public wait a half-decade. Every bit of sloppiness will be dissected, every jab Mayweather doesn't sidestep will be criticized, every power punch Manny lands without phasing Floyd will be sighed at.

But more importantly, they're fighting a narrative that this is but a mere ruse we're being suckered into. That this fight is actually about settling a score for this generation's two best fighters than padding their respective bank accounts. That the $250 million castle being built isn't but a mere blown-up facade ready to be popped when the bell finally sounds.

That, for once in our lives, the payoff will be worth the wait. Let's see if they can pull it off. 

Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter