Ghost Light: Is Mayweather-Pacquiao Out of Reach?

Floyd Mayweather Jr. silenced some of the less egocentric of his critics–that means two or three of them–by dominating 95% of his bout with “Sugar” Shane Mosley on Saturday night at the MGM Grand. Even with his dominating win, however, we may be no closer to seeing Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao face off than we were before.

The fight was only a fight for about six minutes. Then it turned into an Inquisition. Mosley started the fight as a Steinway and ended it sounding like a player piano. In the second round Mosley caught Mayweather with a jolting right that forced “Money” to clinch. Moments later, another right buckled Mayweather, and it looked like a spectacular upset was in the making. But Mayweather, ridiculed by his detractors for one perceived flaw after another, showed heart and determination by fighting through distress. By the end of the round, Mayweather was coming forward, and Mosley was no longer a factor in the fight. In fact, for the last nine rounds, Mayweather made Mosley, 46-6-0-1 (39), resemble cheap sparring.

Round after round saw Mayweather score with lead and counter rights, blows that shook Mosley like a tuning fork. He landed precise jabs and confused Mosley by alternating between aggression and counterpunching. By the 10th round, Naazim Richardson was threatening to call the fight and hand Mosley his first stoppage loss. The wide unanimous decision was a mere formality.

What is amazing about Mayweather, now 41-0 (25), is how much he does without going close to all out. He averages around 40 punches a round–a paltry figure–and on Saturday night he was actually more aggressive than usual and pressured Mosley from time to time. For the most part, however, he basically threw one-twos and single rights and hooks all night. Rarely did he throw in combinations of three or four and still rarer did he go to the body. He dominated the action with quickness, smarts, counterpunching, and defense. According to Compubox, Mosley landed a dreadful eight punches or so per round. Mayweather, of course, is renowned (or is that despised?) for not getting hit often, but at times his defense seems almost predicated on his opponent being hesitant to throw punches. Mayweather is not a powerpuncher by any means, but his sharp counters certainly sting and make opponents think twice–no, three times–about mixing it up.

Now that Mayweather has, to some extent, solidified his standing among his critics (at least some of the smarter ones), by defeating a legitimate welterweight, the sports world turns, with a mixture–unique to boxing–of anticipation and trepidation to a possible Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. Unfortunately, this fight might be further away than ever at this point.

Not only will the drug testing issue play dam to a possible Pacquiao-Mayweather river, but once the PPV numbers for “Who RU Picking?” are announced–and they will easily eclipse those Pacquiao generated for his bout with Joshua Clottey in March—new financial demands made by Mayweather will make negotiations resemble the Aral Sea. A 50-50 purse split will no longer be feasible to Mayweather.

Add to this negative comments tossed out by Bob Arum in some strange variation of a pre-emptive strike and you have the makings of tortuous contract negotiations. “I’m not going to lose any sleep over it,” Arum told Tim Dahlberg. “What I’m concerned about right now is Manny winning the election. If the fight doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. We’re not going to be dictated to.”

Arum has in-house stock–Antonio Margarito, the winner of Cotto-Foreman in June–lined up for Pacquiao after the election and may not be as eager to enforce fiduciary obligations to his fighter as he ought to be. After all, even without Mayweather, Pacquiao is a multimillion dollar superstar. Ditto Mayweather, who was guaranteed a minimum of roughly $22.5 million dollars for the Mosley fight. This number may rise significantly depending on the final number of pay-per-view purchases. In other words, both fighters are doing just fine without each other. If certain conditions are not met for either fighter, then they can move on knowing full well that big events will still be waiting for them. And those who doubt the “household name” factor of Floyd Mayweather should think again: even a magazine as staid as The Atlantic has published an article about him.

As for a possible fight between the two? Pacquiao represents a completely different look from Mosley and it would be silly to use Mosley as a barometer as to how well the Filipino would do against Mayweather. First of all, Pacquiao would not be hauling air after four or five rounds like Mosley did.

All the talk about Mosley being an obsessive gym rat and a dedicated athlete may be true, but he looked fatigued by the sixth round. Pacquiao, whose intense training camps are legendary, most certainly will not be exhausted so early in the fight. Another concern for Mayweather is the fact that Pacquiao is a southpaw. Only a few fighters have troubled Mayweather over the years, and the only ones to visibly hurt him were southpaws—DeMarcus Corley and Zab Judah, who appeared to score a knockdown against Mayweather that was erroneously ruled a slip by referee Richard Steele. Even Sharmba Mitchell landed some flush shots before succumbing to a sixth round TKO.

In addition, Pacquiao is much faster than Mosley, is more mobile, and is far busier in the ring. He will not give Mayweather, perhaps the smartest boxer fighting today, as much time to set up as Mosley did. On the other hand, Mayweather is the superior boxer and if the conventional thinking about Pacquiao is true–that he struggles with pure boxers–then his high-octane attack may be used against him.

Of course, the real problem here is that we may never find out. Already, as is par for the course in boxing coverage, conflicting reports have emerged about whether or not Pacquiao has changed his stance concerning blood tests. Sooner or later, that, along with other issues, will play itself out in what will be a contentious and drawn out process over the next few months. Meanwhile, one of the biggest fights in modern boxing history flickers tantalizingly on the horizon like a will-o-the-wisp.

*****

Read about the turbulent life and strange career of 1950s welterweight champion Don Jordan, who ran with street gangs as a kid, partied with mobsters, and carried a bow and arrow with him through the streets of Los Angeles. The Catastrophist: The Trouble World of Don Jordan