By Mick Akers
As Floyd Mayweather begins to show his face more and more to the press after being somewhat of a recluse since his release from the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas, Nev. in early August, questions surrounding Manny Pacquiao will continue to plague his interviews.
The questions surrounding Pacquiao will not end until either he fights Pacquiao or one or the other retires from boxing.
So far Mayweather has been respectful of Pacquiao and has basically repeated that he wishes him well and that he needs a vacation before fighting again after his brutal knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez on December 8.
Mayweather mentions that his legacy is not defined by what Pacquiao does in the ring, but rather what he does in the ring, as he yet again dodges the question on whether he’ll ever fight Pacquiao.
This is true to an extent, but if the world never sees a Mayweather-Pacquiao bout go down, then many fans and writers alike feel that there should be an asterisk next to both fighters name, affecting both future hall of famer’s legacies. This would be because the two best fighters of their generation were in the same weight division for the primes of their careers and never fought each other—even though talks of a possible mega fight went on for years.
Even if they are not at the level of production they were when negotiations started three years ago, a bout between Mayweather and Pacquiao would still break all pay-per-view and live gate records, and help give fans closure to who is the best fighter of the last decade.
Fans can hope that after Mayweather and Pacquiao comeback to the sport that made them international stars, that they can finally come to their senses—Top Rank and Golden Boy too—and deliver the fight that has been the talk of the sport, before the two greats hang up their gloves for good.
