Former world welterweight champion Ricky Hatton of the United Kingdom is among those boxing aficionados the world over who wants to see the Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather fight happening.
He believes that the two great boxers should endeavour between themselves to make it happen because if they don’t, only the two of them are to blame in the end.
In an interview with Boxing Scene, Hatton said that Pacquiao and Mayweather owe it to the millions of boxing fans worldwide to make their fight happen, regardless whether it’s on May 2 or on a later date.
He explained that the reason he got into boxing because he wants to be the best. And by being the best, he needs to fight the best. He said as a boxer, you don’t want to be sitting on a sofa 20 years down the road as an old man and asking yourself the question whether could I have beaten this guy or not.
That would be the most frustrating part for Pacquiao and Mayweather and that would surely haunt them for the remainder of their lives outside of boxing, cites Hatton.
Hatton said that he fought both Mayweather and Pacquiao before and he was surprised why the two of them won’t fight each other. He said that just in case the mega-fight does happen, he has already bought a flight for him to watch it at ringside.
Ricky Hatton fought Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2007 and Money stopped him on the 10th round while he got knocked out cold in the second round by Pacquiao in 2008.
Close to finally happening
Negotiations for the Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather fight have been ongoing since 2009 but it is only last year, after Pacman’s convincing victory over American Chris Algieri that discussions have gone to the level of serious.
With the recent personal meeting between Pacquiao and Mayweather in Miami, it seems that the fight is finally close to happening.
Unlike previously when Pacquiao has been very outspoken about wanting to make the fight happen, the Filipino boxing icon has taken on a just-wait-and-see approach in the media, perhaps as part of the conditions that he and Mayweather agreed upon during their one-on-one meeting.
It seems that all directions lead to the fight happening very soon because Floyd Mayweather Jr. posted on his Instagram account on February 8 a video of him and Manny Pacquiao talking one-on-one where he was overheard as saying that “We have to make this fight happen.”
Accordingly, Pacquiao and Mayweather have already agreed in principle on the key details of the fight including the venue, which shall be at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, the purse split, among others. The only major issue as of the moment is the discussion between the two rival networks – HBO and Showtime – that each holds the right to one boxer.
Whatever may be Floyd Mayweather’s reasons, I agree with many analysts that the fight will not happen. Floyd Mayweather has set a list of prerequisites upon Manny Pacquiao for the fight to take place. The record is that Manny Pacquiao has shown his good faith by complying with those prerequisites and then asks for the fight contract to be signed. Consequently, Floyd Mayweather’s attorneys at Floyd Mayweather’s directions after a number of days have casually refused to sign the fight contract, rejected it, and instead come back with another additional list of prerequisites for the fight contract to be signed. This pattern of making demands and then walking away from them once they have been met over and over again is a clear pattern of bad faith. Such behavior by Floyd Mayweather is clear evidence that Floyd Mayweather has no intentions of signing any fight contract under any circumstances, and that his demands for performance are nothing more than a publicity ruse for not committing to the fight. Based upon his actions and not his words, Floyd Mayweather’s public statements that the fight must happen are only publicity stunts to deceive the public that he is prepared to accept the fight when by his actions clearly he is not. I have been consistently following the news reports from multiple sources daily for progress in the fight’s negotiations. The positive news concerning this possible fight is so meager that it simply amounts to no progress at all. We, meaning the public, should stop being party to Floyd Mayweather’s public relations ruse and simply accept the fact that for his own reasons he will never ever fight Manny Pacquiao. Floyd Mayweather will go down in history as a failed fighter, who was financially successful, but refused to fight a clear competitor to otherwise maintain his manage record of fight selection. As much as Manny Pacquiao sincerely hopes to have this fight, he would be wise to become more a realist, conclude plans for an alternate fight, and simply get on with his life without considering the possibility of a fight with Floyd Mayweather ever again. Sincerely, Pastor Burt