NY Boxing Examiner | Michael Marley
No stalling, no balking and no squawking.
When his seen it all, done it all, turning age 78 this Tuesday promoter Robert Arum came to Manila with terms and conditions already agreed by Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao listened to the Top Rank honcho carefully.
Pacman asked a few questions, made a few comments and finally gave the promoter a greenlight, the verbal authority to push forward to a written contract for the Fight of the Century on March 13, most likely I say in Las Vegas.
Some think there will be continued squabbling over the contract weight, be it at 154 pounds or something less than, somewhere between 147 and 154.
I say, why so? Pacman was pondering fighting WBA junior middleweight champion Yuri Foreman so obviously the mountain of money for Mayweather overrides any weight issue.
Isn’t this no nonsense, warrior spirit exactly what we love about Megamanny?
Isn’t this if the money is right, I will fight King Kong tonight attitude what we really treasure?
Isn’t it, as I continue with rhetorical questions, the same Street Fighting Man mentality that we so loved about similar gladiators, all time greats such as Roberto Duran and Julio Cesar Chavez?
Isn’t this, boiled down, the essence of what makes Pacman Pacman?
Now look, I agree with free speaking trainer Coach Freddie Roach that Manny should have given himself the holiday period off, that he could’ve and should’ve demanded this Super Fight be delayed until May.
Sometimes we forget that Manny, Li’l Floyd, all of them, are human beings and not Clydesdale workhorses.
I don’t know about the Earie Doctirne, that Pacman needs to let his roughed up by the Miguel Cotto Nov. 14 bout ear heal, and whether that’s a valid reason to delay Mayweather a mere two months, into May.
But what about the mental grind? I’m getting tired thinking of pushing on and I only have to write every day, not run and train like Pacquiao does. I’d have to write 30 columns a day to match his workrate.
Now Pacman’s holiday fun and frolic must be severely limited because the 10 weeks after January 1 will be spent putting his nose to the Coach Roach grindstone.
I guess we’ll know around midnight (New York time) and Sunday noon (Manila time) on March 13 and 14 whether Roach’s protective impulse about Pacman needing a bit of break was right.
Regardless, with the return volley to the Mayweather camp done quietly and quickly, Pacman continues to talk softly but carry a big stick and I don’t mean the thick Thai lumber that he gets whacked on the legs with at the gym.
Message From Manny to Floyd: Bring it on!
And all I hear from Mayweatherville is the sounds of silence.
Source: http://www.examiner.com/x-5699-NY-Boxing-Examiner~y2009m12d4-Manny-Pacquiaos-roaring-response-to-Floyd-Mayweather-Bring-it-on
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