Large sections of the press have been centered lately on Antonio Margarito's upcoming bout against Manny Pacquiao. Does he deserve a high profile fight, should he even be fighting after the hand wrap incident and so on.
The opponent the vast majority of people wanted Pacquiao to fight though has been largely flying under the radar lately aside from brief appearances at various locations and a few hints about his next course of action. I'm referring of course to Pacquiao's public image antithesis Floyd Mayweather.
Outwardly it appears that Pacquiao wants the fight to happen a lot more than Mayweather does at the moment. For Pacquiao, Mayweather is the opponent who would seal his legacy and allow him to retire as an all time great. Safe in the knowledge that he has beaten the other great fighter of his time. For Mayweather, Pacquiao is an opportunity to swell his already sizable bank balance, but in most other regards, probably somebody who he considers to be just another opponent.
Whatever else is said about him, Mayweather is cunning in his dealings, and never fails to seize an opportunity when one is presented to him. And just such an opportunity could have presented itself with the official announcement of Pacquiao vs. Margarito in November.
Mayweather a little over a week ago hinted that his next ring appearance might be on the way sooner rather than later, and revealed to Robin Leach that Dubai is a strong possibility as a venue. As has been his wont of late, he has since revealed nothing more despite constant pressure from his fans, and speculation over who his opponent might be is still rife. Some have predicted tall Paul Williams, others WBC welterweight champ Andre Berto and a few even middleweight ruler Sergio Martinez.
Perhaps equally as surprising as his announcement at the time was the fact that he also appeared to be in the process of choosing a new promoter. Firstly he stayed with Don King in Florida, and King and Golden Boy's Richard Schaefer subsequently tore into each other in the press. Then it seemed as if King's position weakened. Talk of Dubai might mean another party altogether has entered proceedings, as my examiner colleague Mike Marley commented on.
Either way if his Dubai hinting holds any water then this could be the perfect way for Mayweather to gain a big advantage for himself against his arch rival Pacquiao. That is, when and if the two parties take to the negotiating table once more, and irrespective of who Floyd eventually has representing him by that time.
If Floyd's next fight is at junior middleweight, he can then demand that for any fight to happen, he and Pacquiao must meet at that weight.
If Mayweather picks the right opponent, both he and Pacquiao could be junior middleweight champions by early next year. He can then build a case for the two of then to meet and unify the titles, and in turning him down Pacquiao could then be the one look like he doesn't want the fight to happen, with the casual fans at least.
If in fact Mayweather doesn't really want the fight anyway, then this would also give him the perfect way to stop it from happening. If Pacquiao accepts, Floyd has a big advantage, and if he doesn't, with the right manipulation of the situation he comes out looking like he did his best to make the fight happen.
Pac fans, and perhaps even his team would be quick no doubt to say that really, he's too small for junior middleweight and that Mayweather would have a size advantage, being naturally bigger and able to carry the extra weight more easily, and they would be right. When Pacquiao fought Hatton at light welterweight he looked the smaller man, and eventually no amount of skill or ferocity can overcome a big enough size disparity. Junior middleweight is undoubtedly getting close to that limit.
Mayweather supporters will then counter with the fact that if he's fighting for a title at junior middleweight, then he must be comfortable fighting there, and they would also be right. Not to mention the fact that Antonio Margarito will probably step into the ring well over the middleweight limit as it is.
If it comes down to it though, would Pacquiao take on Mayweather at junior middleweight and face the possibility of being at a disadvantage or would he walk away?
His team would advise him to play it safe but having climbed up as many weight divisions as he has already, Pacquiao isn't adverse to taking risks, and the temptation of getting Mayweather finally where he wants him might be too much to pass up.
Source: http://www.examiner.com
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