Mayweather Jr. Speaks Out On Pacquiao Special

Nice, warm weather in New York City, 12:20 PM, 19 May 2009. “Pretty Boy” Floyd Mayweather Jr. arrives at the main entrance of the Empire State Building and is dramatically mobbed by the crowd for autographs.

He approached a fan who easily stood out by chanting loudly “The real champ is here, the real champ is here!” and readily offered to sign his glove. The Mayweather fan had a friend just right behind him who tried to “negate” the first chant by proclaiming with a booming voice like Michael Buffer: “The No. 1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world, Manny Pacquaio! Go Pacquaio!”, in reference to the foiled comeback match-up but still a potential mega-fight between the “Pacman” and the “Pretty Boy” himself. When Junior heard this, he returned the autographed glove to the guy, held his head close to him and whispered: “PACQUAIO HAS ALREADY BEEN KNOCKED OUT TWICE.” Going straight to the 80th Floor of the famed New York landmark for a press conference, the “Pretty Boy” uttered the same line to the media --- implying that if Manny Pacquaio has had two knockout losses in his career (third career loss was a close unanimous decision to Mexican Erik Morales), he could be beaten again in the same fashion. The bigger picture here, however, lies on the assumption by Mayweather Jr. that the # 1 pound-for-pound title rightfully belongs to him with his unblemished ring record (39-0, 25 KO) and not to Pacquaio (49-3, 37 KO), who already has 3 losses in his career but who has previously demolished boxing’s two superstars in his last two bouts, the recently-retired and Golden Boy honcho Oscar De La Hoya and British star Ricky Hatton. Mayweather Jr. is a special fighter with tremendous boxing skills, undefeated in all his fights and comes from a boxing pedigree which includes his uncle-trainer Roger, also a former ring champion himself, and father Floyd Sr. who recently trained Ricky Hatton versus Pacquaio. After a hiatus in the sport spanning several months, Floyd Jr.’s consistency and focus in his comeback fight will be put to test against the man they call "Dinamita". This will be the barometer to determine whether or not "Pretty Boy" deserves to go toe-to-toe with boxing’s hottest property to date and currently considered the “Face of Boxing” – Manny "Pacman" Pacquaio of the Philippines. For that fight to happen, however, he has to outbox the last of the great Mexican ring warriors – Juan Manuel Marquez. And this boxer, interestingly, also happens to be itching to fight Pacquaio the third time. For the boxing fans, nothing is more salivating than the ultimate battle between the Filipino spitfire Manny Pacquaio and the winner of this box-off to be shown by HBO Pay Per View (PPV) in July 18 (US time). Widely regarded as a technically proficient fighter with outstanding counter-punching ability and already ranked # 2 in the world pound-for-pound list, Marquez has had two memorable battles with the “Pacman”, the first one ending in a “Draw” and the next one resulting in a “Split Decision”, but nothing convincingly as these were so close that even Freddie Roach, Pacquaio’s chief trainer, commented that the second bout could have gone either way. On the rematch held 15 May 2008, it went Manny’s way through the judges’ scorecards. But Team Marquez clamored for a third bout to settle it once and for all. When this writer “cornered” Marquez on the ground floor of the Empire State Building for an autograph on a Mexico Adidas shirt, I had to speak a little Spanish: “Por favor Señor, gane contra Mayweather asi habra una lucha de Pacquaio otra vez”. Then in mixed English and Spanish, I told him “A third Pacquaio fight if you win this. Buena suerte Juanma”, to which a serious-looking Marquez gamely nodded his head in agreement and replied “Gracias, gracias”. Determination and focus are clearly seen in Marquez's face, albeit all the odds stacked against him versus Floyd Junior. A difficult task ahead and he knows it. Mayweather and Marquez. Two world-class, superb, charismatic boxers. July 18th at MGM Grand Las Vegas. When the battle ends and the smoke clears, who wins?