Boxing News 2011: Mayweather-Pacquiao could happen after all

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Floyd Mayweather Jr. gets beaten up a lot. In the media. On the Internet. By reporters. By fans.

But the erstwhile pound-for-pound champion has yet to be beaten where it matters – in the ring. Mayweather is 41-0-0, which, if you’d forgotten, is three fewer losses and two fewer draws than are on Manny Pacquiao’s record. And if you didn’t know that, just listen to Mayweather speak for a while. He’ll be quick to remind you of it.

The guy is a genius. He may not be the nicest guy you’ll run into and you definitely don’t want to draw the security patrol duty in his neighborhood, but he knows how to grab attention and sell himself.

The genius of this match with Ortiz is that it will come about two months before Pacquiao fights Juan Manuel Marquez on Nov. 12 in Las Vegas. Pacquiao will be in the early days of his training camp for Marquez when Mayweather climbs into the ring to face Ortiz, presumably at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, though that was not announced on Tuesday.

But Mayweather could invite Pacquiao to come to the fight as his guest. He could infuriate Pacquiao’s loyal legion of followers, who become irate if one says anything that could in any way be construed as remotely critical of Pacquiao, by taunting him and telling him to watch how a real professional operates.

Of course, you know he’ll taunt Pacquiao for picking at his leftovers. Mayweather won 11 of 12 rounds against Mosley in 2010 and won all 12 in a demolition of Marquez in 2009. He also beat Ricky Hatton and Oscar De La Hoya before Pacquiao did the same.

That will just up the ante for a fight between them, one that would almost certainly shatter every existing record in terms of revenue generated, paid gate and pay-per-views sold.

The thing that makes a Mayweather-Pacquiao match so fascinating is the great contrast in style. Mayweather is a defensive maestro and an underrated offensive fighter whose jab sets up a range of other punches, all of which are delivered with near-perfect precision and blinding speed. Pacquiao is an offensive machine whose overwhelming punching power and killer instinct make up for whatever small defensive holes he may have.

Golden Boy, which is promoting Mayweather, and Top Rank, which promotes Pacquiao, couldn’t have asked for anything better: Pacquiao sitting ringside at Mayweather-Ortiz on Sept. 17 and then Mayweather cheering on Marquez at ringside at Pacquiao-Marquez on Nov. 12.

The fact that Mayweather chose as his opponent Ortiz, a strong, powerful offensive fighter just moving into his prime rather than a fading Paul Spadafora, could be construed as a sign that he’s getting himself ready for the offensive onslaught he may see when he takes on Pacquiao.

http://sports.yahoo.com/box/news;_ylt=AmdGpIXz2BBdpeHOSFtzuS.UxLYF?slug=ki-iole_mayweather_pacquiao_ortiz060711

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• Mayweather preparing for long-awaited fight with Pacquiao? (tsn.ca)
• Mayweather to Return Against Ortiz in September (nytimes.com)
• Mayweather to end layoff against Ortiz (canada.com)
• Mayweather to fight Ortiz after year-plus layoff (sports.espn.go.com)
• Floyd Mayweather Jr to fight Victor Ortiz for WBC welterweight title (guardian.co.uk)
• Floyd Mayweather Will Fight Victor Ortiz In September In Return To Boxing (sbnation.com)

Boxing News 2010: Who is next for Pacquiao?

Image by Getty Images via @daylife
The front runners for Pacquiao’s next opponent are Mosley and Berto. There’s no way they’ll fight each other. Mosley is near the end. If he’s going to get wiped out he wants it to be against a great fighter in the biggest fight of the year, not against a young, still-largely unproven beltholder such as Berto.

My guess is that Mosley will get the Pacquiao fight. He’s the best known of Pac’s potential opponents for next year (and no, I’m not including the troubled Mr. Mayweather) and the perception is that he presents the least amount of risk at this stage of his career. Arum believes he can sell a Pacquiao-Mosley fight to the general public and Sugar Shane has endeared himself to the old promoter now that he’s distanced himself from Golden Boy Promotions.

Marquez was always a long shot to get a third bout with Pacquiao, and I’m kind of glad. I don’t care that he weighed 145 pounds on fight night vs. Katsidis. The fact that he made 134 pounds the day before tells me that extra poundage he put on was just water weight -- not muscle. Marquez is not a welterweight. Period. Marquez is an old, small lightweight. Don’t even call him a junior welterweight. There isn’t a world-class junior welterweight alive who can make 134 pounds without killing himself. Pacquiao would kill himself making 134 pounds. Pacquiao would have to seriously dry out to make 140 pounds. We should all forget about Pacquiao-Marquez III unless Manny decides he wants to go against Freddie Roach and Arum and agree to weigh-in between 140 and 142 pounds. Even then, he’ll have a distinct size and strength advantage over Marquez. I think JMM has given fans enough thrills in hard, grueling fights. I don’t want to see him take any more serious punishment. That’s what a Pacquiao fight equals, in my not-so-humble opinion, punishment.

http://www.ringtv.com/blog/2572/dougies_friday_mailbag/

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• Marquez ready for Round 3 with Pacquiao (nypost.com)
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Boxing News 2010: Manny Pacquiao's Next Fight: Why Juan Manuel Marquez Is Not It

Image by sjsharktank via Flickr
The fight everyone wants to see is Pacquiao vs Maywether. One thing I am willing to bet on is that this will not be Pacquiao's next fight. Mayweather needs to fight someone as a tune up match before Pacquiao. Someone he can fight with no real risk of a loss. Maybe Mayweather takes KJ Noons up on his challenge.

In the meantime who will Pacquiao fight?  Some say Marquez should be Pacquiao's next fight. In fact, Oscar De La Hoya tweeted after the fight with Katsidis, "Great fights now let's rally for a Marquez paquiao fight," from his official verified twitter account. The fact is that Manny Pacquiao has one win and one draw over Marquez. The draw was due to the fact that one judge had it 115-110 for Marquez, another 115-110 for Pacquiao and Judge Burt Clements sealed the draw with a 113-113 score, but he admitted making a mistake. He should have had the first round 10-6 for Pacquiao instead of 10-7 because Pacquiao had knocked Marquez down 3 times in the first round. Pacquiao would have won, had Clements added the third knockdown to the scorecard for round 1.

So Pacquiao has really beat Marquez twice. Why would he fight him again. Die hard Marquez fans that say Pacquiao is ducking Marquez or Pacquiao is afraid of Marquez, are really just kidding themselves. They refuse to come to grips with the reality that Marquez is past his prime and Pacquiao is peaking in his. Marquez has less of a chance this time because has not only improved tremendously but is bigger and stronger since they last fought. So why would he think he can win? Maybe he just wants one last huge payday. Maybe he wants to be in the spotlight one last time. Or is that Marquez possibly has delusions of grandeur. Who knows. What I wanted to know is how can he realistically be in the pound for pound discussion when you have a new era of talent and he has lost to Pacquiao twice. Doesn't someone who hasn't lost to Pacquiao twice deserve a shot?

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/529072-pacquiaos-next-fight-and-why-juan-manuel-marquez-is-not-it-vote-on-who-is

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• Manny Pacquiao: Trainer Says Pacquiao Would Finish Mosley Like Margarito (bleacherreport.com)
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Boxing News 2010: Juan Manuel Marquez wants rematch

Image by Getty Images via @daylife
Juan Manuel Marquez didn't waste any time after defending his lightweight title before setting his sights on Round 3 with Manny Pacquiao.

Marquez stopped Michael Katsidis in the ninth round Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, winning an all-action battle and certain candidate for Fight of the Year. Moments later, he turned his attention to settling the score with the man considered the best in the world.

"Obviously, Pacquiao is my priority. I'll go up to 140 [pounds], it's no problem," Marquez said through a translator. "Stop making excuses, Manny. Fight me."

The two have met twice before, and both of the bouts were thrilling. They fought to a 12-round draw in 2004, and Pacquiao won a close split decision in March 2008.

Pacquiao, who has discussed retiring in three years, said at a news conference Monday in Manila that he's willing to fight Marquez again but that the match would probably not excite fans. He sounded doubtful himself, saying "I would not watch Pacquiao vs. Marquez."

Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum said in a phone interview with The Associated Press on Sunday that a third fight with Marquez is a distinct possibility, although just like everyone else, he's waiting to see whether Floyd Mayweather Jr. steps into the ring against Pacquiao in what could be the richest fight in boxing history.

"If we do a deal with Marquez, and it'd be a money deal, they can come and represent Marquez at press conferences and that kind of stuff, but they wouldn't have anything to do with the promotion, nor would Lou," Arum said. "They would in effect be signing the fighter to us, because at this point, Manny doesn't have to do co-promotions with anybody."

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=5860025

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• Manny Pacquiao's Next Fight: Why Juan Manuel Marquez Is Not It (bleacherreport.com)