Would a Mayweather-Pacquiao Rematch Do More Harm or Good for Boxing?
Call it boxing's imperfect storm.
Just when fight fans and fight-makers thought it was finally safe to imagine life beyond the Floyd Mayweather Jr./Manny Pacquiao era, the April showers have arrived.
First, on the month’s initial day, Mayweather replied to Spike TV's Antonio Tarver's question with something other than flat-out insistence he's gone for good.
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Asked if he was thinking about fighting, the former five-division champ said, "Not at this time."
That was just trickling enough for the many who believed last September’s departure was more a weekend getaway than a permanent vacation.
But the deluge arrived on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Ironically, it came just hours after the desert playground was hit—literally and figuratively—with torrential downpours, flash flood warnings and even a brief bout of hail.
There, instead of playing patsy to a souped-up Tim Bradley and waving graciously into retirement, Manny Pacquiao instead turned in as good and violent a big-stage performance as he’s given in years.
The post-fight machinations were filled with the predictable questions about the Filipino’s future, to which the man himself said, “My heart is 50/50.” No less authorities than Freddie Roach, Pacquiao's trainer, and Bradley said his exit at this stage is far from necessity based on acumen.
Mix that together with the throaty reaction of 16,000-plus fans at the MGM Grand—which in this case meant a giddy eruption at the mere suggestion of a Mayweather rematch—and boxing enthusiasts are right back where they were a year ago.
Pondering a megamatch between guys closer to age 50 than age 20.
Of course, given the mega entertainment flop the first Money/Pac-Man summit produced with a $100 price tag, there are sure to be just as many folks not so enthralled with another go-round.
It’s not an open-and-shut case either way.
And persuasive arguments can be made in both directions.
Voting NO: Restarting the circus is bad for the sport
Deep down beneath the custom-tailored suits, it can’t make the most powerful men in boxing completely happy that the future fight a whole lot of people woke up talking about Sunday—with the possible exception of anything involving new heavyweight star Anthony Joshua—is between guys who turned pro when Joshua, Canelo Alvarez, Amir Khan and Deontay Wilder were still in elementary school.
They’re 37 (Pacquiao) and 39 (Mayweather), respectively, and both have at least given some—if not serious—consideration to voluntarily ending their careers.
That’s not ideal commitment for your franchise’s two biggest names.
And even if they do put the niggling to rest and return full time, the gargantuan gap between the sales job and the fight-night product last May is going to leave people wary of investing in a sequel.
Not to mention the out-of-the-ring angst both have caused—from domestic violence concerns that brought anti-Mayweather protesters to the building the first time to the homophobic comments that have cost Pacquiao both endorsement dollars and image points since February.
Charging high prices for damaged goods is a dangerous way to do business, especially if the resold product provides the same titillation return—little to none—as the frowned-upon original.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
Instead, the era can officially end back in Vegas next month, when Alvarez and Khan headline the first boxing event at the pristine, new T-Mobile Arena.
That fight’s winner can transition into a giant showdown for middleweight dominance with Gennady Golovkin, while other fan-friendly matches like Andre Ward vs. Sergey Kovalev marinate into blockbusters and the post-Klitschko heavyweights—courtesy of Wilder, Joshua, Tyson Fury and Co.—edge into a spotlight so long dominated by others.
True, they may never drive PPV numbers into the 4.4 million range again.
But a diverse and exciting group of youngsters is far healthier across the board.
Voting YES: All things considered, it’s still the best fight to make
Mayweather and Pacquiao are old. Mayweather and Pacquiao are fighters.
But Mayweather and Pacquiao are not old fighters.
Regardless of birthdates, it's no stretch to suggest—given their most recent performance—that both remain among the world’s top-10 pound-for-pound commodities.
Given the frequency with which so many promoters infuriate fans by avoiding top-shelf foes to pad their fighters’ resumes, it’d be cutting off the nose to spite the face to take a stand simply because of age.
Mayweather’s 12-round clinic against an admittedly underqualified Andre Berto showed no sign of regression from his vintage in-ring dominance, and Pacquiao’s two-knockdown dusting of Bradley left Roach to say, “This may be the beginning of bringing back the old Manny Pacquiao. I would like to see him fight again.”
In fact, the ferocity the Filipino showed with a repaired right shoulder injects an element of “what might have happened if he were healthy?” into rematch chatter, which dovetails as well into a conspiracy-theorist suggestion that Mayweather’s dubious IVs might have given him an unfair competitive edge.
Just like that, the competitive playing field looks a lot more level.
And lest anyone forget, a lot of people cheered when the idea was tossed out in the ring during HBO’s interviews on Saturday night. Regardless of what happened the first time and in spite of the indignant contrarians who’d be out there to complain no matter what, plenty would still be into it.
Even if half the original audience bolted, you’d still have the second-biggest pay-per-view of all time.
That’s not too bad for a couple of geezers.
Conclusion: If the show is inevitable, enjoy the show
The bottom line seems simple: If the Pacquiao and Mayweather camps think there’s a benefit to be gained by putting together a rematch, it’ll occur.
And that doesn’t have to be a bad thing.
If a second bout turns out to be the complete opposite of the first one and an instant classic, it wouldn’t be the first time the all-knowing cognoscenti got it wrong.
Fans of a certain age will recall the second match between Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns was widely panned going in, because many suggested Hearns was a shot commodity who’d taken too many beatings from the likes of Marvin Hagler, Iran Barkley and James Kinchen.
All he did was drop Leonard twice while earning a spellbinding 12-round draw Leonard has long since conceded should have been a series-equaling win, according to George Kimball in his book Four Kings (h/t Grantland's Eric Raskin). Not too long after, the know-it-alls got it wrong again when they demanded Barkley’s subsequent conqueror, Roberto Duran, get a tiebreaking shot at Leonard after their first two get-togethers were so riveting—for different reasons.
The third one, to this day, remains a handy alternative to sleeping pills.
Meanwhile, for those who suggest engineering "MayPac II" will take steam away from other big fights in the pipeline, the simple question is why?
If the Bob Arum and Mayweather camps come to the promotional table again, how exactly does that keep Oscar De La Hoya from making a deal with Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions for Canelo-Golovkin? Or, for that matter, why would it mean Jay Z and Roc Nation couldn’t pick up a phone and put together a deal with Kathy Duva and Main Events to put the finishing touches on Ward and Kovalev.
Simple. It doesn’t. And it wouldn’t.
No matter how anyone feels about the fighters, their ages, their reputations or their indecision about walking away, there’s no reason why their putting the sport on the global front page again would mean anything negative for anyone else trying to get to the same level.
In fact, when it comes to role models of gigantic event architecture, people could do a lot worse than sit through another of their classes.
Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained firsthand.
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