Pacquiao-Mayweather big boost to boxing

SPORTS FOR ALL By Philip Ella Juico (The Philippine Star) Updated December 09, 2009 12:00 AM

It’s all systems go for the super blockbuster fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. for the former’s WBO welterweight title.

The contracts for the megafight are expected to be signed within the next few days. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum met with Pacquiao in the country Friday last week.

Arum, who turned 78 yesterday, returned to the United States on Sunday to discuss with Golden Boy Promotions (GBP) chief executive Richard Schaefer the terms of the contract. At the time this column is being written, it is possible that an announcement would have been made by Tuesday, to coincide with Arum’s birthday.

Three sites have been discussed: the new $1.2 billion Cowboys Stadium in Dallas; the New Orleans Superdome and Las Vegas, including the MGM Grand and an outdoor stadium on the Strip, according to the Associated Press.

The fight will be at 147 pounds for Pacquiao’s title he won from Miguel Cotto in an impressive 12-round stoppage on Nov. 14 in Las Vegas. Happily, there will therefore be no catchweight.

In my Nov. 25 column, I had pointed out that it would be “unusual” for Pacquiao to demand that Mayweather go down (from the American’s present weight which could be between 154-160 pounds, several months after fighting Manuel Marquez at 147 pounds) to a catch weight of 144 pounds or any weight below 147 pounds in a title fight in the 147-pound welterweight division where Pacquiao is the champion. To demand such a condition means a champion is asking for a handicap.

Now that Mayweather has agreed to fight at 147 pounds, this will be the first time that Pacquiao will meet a 147-pounder with Mayweather’s talent and savvy. This will be the first opportunity for Pacquiao to go up against someone with Mayweather’s defensive skills.

There, however, seems to be no doubt that Pacquiao can absorb the punch of a legitimate welterweight as seen in his fight with Cotto. In a sense, as I also pointed out in the same column, Pacquiao started preparing for Mayweather by allowing himself to take Cotto’s punches which, I daresay, cannot be that much weaker than Mayweather’s.

When Pacquiao decided to fight David Diaz at 135 pounds, the Filipino icon actually made a statement that showed that he was ready to meet bigger and stronger fighters. Although an average fighter, Diaz managed to go all of nine rounds with Pacquiao.

The ninth-round TKO win of Pacquiao over the legendary Oscar de la Hoya demonstrated that Pacquiao’s career would prosper beyond the 135-pound lightweight limit. Of course, quite a number of people will say that de la Hoya had lost all his energy by the time he climbed the ring in trying to go down from 160 to 147 pounds and that he was past his prime.

The second-round demolition of Briton Ricky Hatton hardly had Hatton hitting Pacquiao with anything meaningful. It showed that one has to be in one’s best form once inside the ring with Pacquiao.

The Cotto fight did show that Pacquiao could take a welterweight’s punches. It was the first time since Pacquiao-Erik Morales I that I have seen Pacquiao hit as often as he was in the Cotto fight. Several times, Pacquiao’s head snapped back after taking powerful punches from the Puerto Rican. Cotto’s jabs hit their mark in the second and seventh rounds and, although sending Pacquiao’s neck snapping back, the latter seemed unmoved and just went forward towards Cotto. A lesser fighter would have been hurt and would have gone down.

Even as he was absorbing a beating, Cotto still managed to get in some licks of his own especially in rounds nine and 11. There is perhaps no better proof of the punishment Pacquiao absorbed than the procedure Pacquiao went through at the hospital to have blood drained from his right ear which was hit hard by Cotto.

Pacquiao says he needs 12 weeks to prepare for Mayweather, four more than his usual preparation. Makes sense, after all he’s up against a technician who has power and guile.

It’s a fight that will do a lot of good to boxing.

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Erratum: In last week’s column, I wrote that Thailand has won the over-all championship of the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games twice. The Thais have won it four times. The Indonesians have won the title nine times while the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam have each won the championship once since 1977. The seventeenth overall title is up for grabs in Laos in the 25th SEA Games with the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam expected to dispute the top spot. Indonesia, as I reported in last week’s column, is aiming for no lower than third place.

Source: philstar.com