Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao have selected their next opponents and - to no one's surprise - they will once again NOT be facing each other.
On May 5, Mayweather will move up to junior middleweight to challenge Miguel Cotto for Cotto's WBA title.
Mayweather, who was granted a license despite facing an 87-day jail sentence, was supposed to begin his sentence on January 6 but the star of Venada pushed his report date back to June 1.
On June 9, Manny Pacquiao will defend his WBO welterweight title against undefeated WBO junior welterweight champion Timothy Bradley Jr..
There's no question that both Mayweather-Cotto and Pacquiao-Bradley are very good fights ... but there's also no question that fight fans would happily trade both for one - increasingly unlikely - Mayweather-Pacquiao bout.
Comments
We’ve heard all the excuses, all the reasons, but now Bradley or Cotto or both could scupper this mega dollar fight . If either or both are beaten the money will drop. If they wouldn’t fight each other for millions they certainly wont fight each other for anything less.
I hope they, Pac and Money, both lose. I’m not against the fighters, mostly the promoters.
I’m not purchasing either fight. I would laugh.
Good training and sparring for both boxers!They both will profit!
Andrew, May-Pac is stale! I DO NOT –advocate– that “match” in the least way and –also– I -advise- PERSONS such as [like the position you are in! : )]. These two match-ups are both “excellent” –talent– pairings! Though, Cotto, in-my-book he no longer is “fan worthy”, but,, too, I realize that is MY OWN ‘Personal’ call! (“can’t Mayweather find even anything even BETTER” as -match- when he’s gonna retire? compare him-Pac and JMM I “doubt it” history books gonna hold it against him. Everyone knows even if they had paired off THREE YEARS AGO, that it was a “toss-up”!)
I will just catch each fight for FREE a week later on HBO or Showtime. They will never fight or when they FINALLY do, each will be in their 40′s. This kind of crap is just helping MMA to become the premier fighting sport, because the fighters can just fight and don’t have to worry about greedy promoters and all the B.S.
Hey everbody! Am I the only one that feels this way on Mayweather & Pacquaio????…What is it with Mayweather and Pacqiauo? Are they scared of each other???.They should have had their fight 2 years ago. It has been wanted by the public so long that now hardly anyone cares if they ever fight..
Im so sick of seeing these sub par matches that i may just start watching the knights jousting on the horses.It would be much more exciting I believe.
AMEN to this dragging of feet on mayweather and pac-man is helping MMA and cage fighting.That is real fighting.It has NO Greedy & Crooked Promoters!!! No super long waiting periods.
As bad as we need new fighters for the sport of boxing,It is still painful to watch this sport slowly fizzle away.We have not had a Super Heavy Weight World Champion in so long.Ali,Tyson,Foreman all carried this great Sport. Nearly everyone in the world new who these fighters were.But now hardly anyone can name the Heavy weight Champion of the World…….It is So sad…But SO TRUE!!!!
While I would love to see the Pacquiao-Mayweather bout, it isn’t ever going to happen while both guys are still viable. Mayweather is too stupid & pigheaded to realize what an opportunity he has. Undoubtedly it will someday dawn on him what foolish mistake he made. That won’t occur until he substantially matures, which won’t be until he’s over 50 or maybe even 60 in his case. His receptiveness to finally fight Pacquiao never occurred until he saw the 3rd bout between Pacquiao and Juan Manual Marquez. It was then that he finally saw that a style & strategy which was utilized by Marquez was the recipe for victory. A style & strategy that he could execute in a superior manner than the great Juan Manual Marquez, plus Floyd Jr., is bigger & faster than the future shoe in 1st ballot Hall of Fame bound Mexican. The only hurdle was the ridiculous demands of the inflated ego of Floyd Jr. The only thing he accomplished with his decision to finally fight Pacquiao was ensure to a greater degree with his insulting, acrimonious personality is that it is more unlikely than ever to occur. Stupid is what stupid does.
Before the 3rd Marquez battle, Floyd was simply frightened of fighting Pacquiao. He feared that Pacquiao would pulverize him. He in fact overrated Pacquiao out of his fear of him. Now it’s different. Now he really believes he’ll win, but his stupidity & ego have filled the void that cowardice left. Mayweather has fought at Jr. Middleweight before. If he wins, as I think he will, an even more lucrative fight would be Sergio Martinez who was a Jr. Middleweight Champion for years. Now that’s a fight that Floyd would be destroyed in. I’m sure we won’t ever see it happen. Mayweather Jr. is a Hall of Fame fighter but he’ll always be remembered as a guy who was simply afraid to fight anyone who he thought could beat him. I’m sure he wouldn’t fight Sergio Martinez for the same terms he offered Pacquiao. Mayweather would likely take a terrible beating versus Sergio and I would envision Floyd Jr. quitting in his corner in the 3rd or 4th round after beating knocked down at least once & trying to unsuccessfully defend himself in a safety first style. He would be shattered and embarrassed but too much of a coward to go down fighting. He’ll quit and have a pathetic excuse of why he lost. I could hear him now “There was a pea under my mattress & I couldn’t sleep all night. I was too exhausted to fight” Hopefully his undefeated record ends by the tough Cotto as Mayweather “The Racist Fool” doesn’t deserve an undefeated record.
I consider myself a solid fan for many years.This nonsense with Floyd is all about his undefeated record and nothing else in my opinion.He is simply afraid of losing to Pacquio.That to me is very sad and that is the mark on his luxurious record that will never go away in the years to come.These are the kind of fights that could possibly save the spoprt of Boxing,although I don’t think that fight alone could do it,it needs a lot more than that.They could of hooked up with MMA early on and that might of been the answer.Thats better than doing absolutely nothing,which they did very well by the way.Right now I.m sorry to say but there is not much hope left for a solution.Too many Greedy Chiefs and that will not change.Sad to say from an old fan!
I believe the fight strategy from both sides is a good decision. The end to all the speculation will happen within the next six months. Mayweather will be the stronger if Manny steps up in weight. If Floyd comes down it will be a classic.
I agree with you 100%Martinez would “mess” up pretty boy floyd’s face& ruin hid perfect record!Finally a viewer/reader who doesn’t talk like he’s some punchdrunk fighter.You summed it up nicely. Put him in a cell with OJ Simpson& they can talk about how they like to beat on women-then OJ can tell him how to take it one step further!!!
To call either one of these matches sparring is simply exposing a dearth of boxing knowledge. Both of these boxerss are top notch, world class pugilists. No surpise that Pacquia has taken on the bigger gamble as Mayweather always is more calculating, trying to fight a guy who has little chance to beat. He won’t fight Timothy Bradley until somebody else beats him…otherwise that will be one more guy off Little Floyd’s radar & onto to his duck list which is rife with danger to his unblemished record. Cotto was beaten into submission by Pacquiao in his only legitimate defeat. The loss to a cheating Antonio Margarito can’t be honestly considered as we all knowe that Margarito was a cheater & isn’t really all that good without resorting to ‘plaster of paris’. His best atribute is his guts and ability to absorb punishment as he takes one terrible licking after another. Cotto dominated Maragarito when Turpitude Tony didn’t wear his loaded gloves. I hate to see anyone get hurt, but a cheater like Margarito is receiving his just punishment. Not in the savage beatings he’s endured san loaded gloves, but in exposing his lack of talent sans loaded gloves. Why is he nowhere near the old Tony? We all know don’t we. Cotto has a real good chance to beat Floyd & Bradley’s is even better against the Great Manny. Cotto & Bradley are future Hall of Famers & dedicated practioners of their art. I love both matches & wouldn’t miss them. In fact I can’t wait…should both be good bouts.
It is Gods game
Good morning fight fans, Aaron B. Here. First all serious Prizefight Fans have an open invitation to be guests on my Boxing TV & Radio Shows. Team Rolling Thunder Pro., Inc. Is celebrating our 20th consecutive years on the air. Aaron ‘Radio Knight’ Braunstein, nyshockjock.com . Manny Packman VS. Money situation . Many of us have seen this is The Prizefight Industry for decades. Both Boxers have gotten so wealthy 1- No real interest in training, sparring, making weight. 2- Both Mayweather & Holier than though Pacquino are rapidly approaching 40. 3- As my barber Charlie ” Carmine” Binello, who is turning 95 this week, a serious Fight Fan ( still calls me Boya)” Charlie: ” hey Boya these 2 Prizefighters are making so much Lires , how can they possibly hate each other & want to punch the other boxer “. Aaron B. ” Charlie your mistaken”. Charlie: “I work 13 hours a day at 95 years old cutting men’s hair, trying to make a living in this tough economy. Boya for 1 million $’s both Packman & Mayweather cut hit me with baseball bats for 12 rounds.