Manny Pacquiao Is Everything Floyd Mayweather Jr. Is Not

On Saturday night, a 72-foot-tall Filipino spitfire is going to appear out of a tunnel in front of 45,000 fans at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Tex.

Though it will only be on a high-definition video board—which is also 160-feet wide—people, for the first time, will understand how Floyd Mayweather Jr. feels when he imagines Manny Pacquiao staring him down from the other side of a boxing ring.

It must be difficult for Little Floyd; I'm sure he gets nightmares. Pacquiao, after all, is everything that he is not:

Fighter of the Decade? Check.

Pound-for-Pound King? Check.

The People's Champ? Check.

Media Darling? Check.

Let me correct myself, it must be really difficult for Little Floyd.

Mayweather, you see, is all these things in his own mind, and judging by the way that mind has spiraled out of control since Nov. 14, when the world first clamored for him to engage in a battle with all of the above, the biggest Duck since Daffy knows it's true.

Instead of agreeing to fight the welterweight titlist on Mar. 13 as proposed by Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions, Little Floyd decided to add an unforeseen wrinkle to their smooth negotiations.

The Filipino, he said, must undergo stringent performance-enhancing drug tests by the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

Pacquiao, always game, agreed to take unlimited urine tests and three blood tests—30 days before the fight, 24 days before the fight, and immediately afterwards in the locker room—and though it was far above and beyond any testing ever agreed to in the sport, it wasn't enough to satisfy Mayweather and quell his fears of the man he is not.

So Pacquiao and Top Rank moved on and substituted another fighter into the prearranged date of Mar. 13.

To add insult to injury, this sport that Little Floyd tells us he so dearly loves, is also tailor-made for the seven-time world champion's style, not his own.

Pacquiao is a fast, aggressive, stalking, and unrelenting power-puncher that's not afraid to take a hit in order to give one, or as we learned in the Miguel Cotto fight on Nov. 14, just to test someone's strength.

The Sweet Science might be considered the art of "hitting without getting hit," as any Mayweather Mania disciple will proudly inform you. But in all honesty, how many fight fans actually liked art when they were in high school?

Or science, for that matter?

Boxing aficionados don't want to see a grown man backpedal across a ringed canvas and pot-shot himself to a decision victory like Mayweather so often does.

They want to see exhilarating battles of brawn and toe-to-toe exchanges of leather, blood, and sweat that leave both fighters exhausted at the end of every three-minute interval.

Because the excitement and drama of the world's most riveting sport is seeing who can answer that bell 60 seconds later, and muster the courage necessary to do it all again. So why the hell would any of us care about how many times someone gets hit in a fight?

This isn't Dancing With the Stars.

And in three nights, when Manny Pacquiao appears 72-feet-tall on that video board in Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Tex., it won't be to dance.

Joshua "The Grand Master" Clottey will be staring him down from the other side of a boxing ring, and he's not going to be afraid of seeing Manny "The Pac Man" Pacquiao stare back. And when the first bell rings, there's one thing that boxing fans from around the world can bet on.

Pacquiao and Clottey will fight!

For additional reading, please take a look at:

Mercito Gesta Is The Best Filipino Fighter You Have Never Heard Of

Manny Pacquiao: From The Gutters Of Manila To The Bright Lights Of Hollywood 

Photo of Manny Pacquiao training at the Gaylord Texan Hotel on Mar. 9 courtesy of The Associated Press