When news first broke of the domestic dispute involving Floyd Mayweather and the mother of three of his children, it was widely expected that he would probably get away with a slap on the wrist. Perhaps a minor jail term if he was unlucky, but more likely nothing that would keep him out of the ring for any substantial amount of time.
When it was announced by the Clark County district attorney's office yesterday that he was being charged with 4 felonies and 4 misdemeanors though, that widely held belief changed instantly.
At this stage it's anyone's guess what kind of time Mayweather will actually get, or whether perhaps his former girlfriend will drop the charges the same as she did after a similar incident several years ago.
Of all the people to weigh in on the issue so far, Manny Pacquiao, who takes on Antonio Margarito for the vacant WBC junior middleweight title in November, has so far remained characteristically reserved.
For Mayweather's long time rival though, the news will be something of a mixed blessing. With Floyd probably out of the picture, or at least out of the ring for the foreseeable future, Pacquiao will become the sole major pay per view draw in the sport today. Meaning that even more opponents will be lining up to take him on and that he should be able to hold onto the top spot on most pound for pound lists until he chooses to retire.
Not to mention the constant accusations of supposed steroid use that Mayweather et al directed towards him should abate to some degree. While Floyd's father and uncle will remain, with the intrigue over the possibility of bout between Floyd and Manny removed they will have less cause to come out with anything controversial, and probably won't be asked for comment as often either.
The downside to Pacquiao though is that unable to face his greatest rival it isn't clear whether his star will be able to rise much higher than it already has. His pay per view sales might be given a slight boost now that, for the time being, he is the only regular pay per view fighter. But without a steady stream of interesting opponents he will probably struggle to consistently put up the kind of numbers he has in the past. Even Floyd Mayweather needed to beat Oscar De La Hoya to truly become a huge draw, and Pacquiao now perhaps lacks that true rival that Mayweather provided him with.
Greg Evans, Pittsburgh: "Margarito, Marquez then the best of the light welters then retirement, all Pacquiao needs to do. Floyd just needs to concentrate on not dropping the soap or bragging about how much money he has in the yard"
Stevie Saunders, Philly: "I think Manny would see it as a shame in a way, part of the reason he got so popular was because Floyd was always talking s**t about him and now he won't have that"
Source: http://www.examiner.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment