Op-Ed: Pacquiao Victory Over Mayweather will Cement his Place in Boxing

The proposed Pacquiao-Mayweather match is destined to be one of the greatest boxing matches of all time and a victory by Pacquiao will cement his place among great names in boxing.

A victory by Manny Pacquiao in the proposed Mayweather-Pacquiao match will cement his place among great names in boxing. Boxing fans from around the world say that Pacquiao is now the greatest pound-for-pound boxer on the planet and few would say otherwise. But Floyd Mayweather and his team dispute Pacquiao's claim to greatness. Mayweather maintains that he is the best pound-for-pound boxer because of his untainted boxing record. Mayweather says he is the real pound-for-pound boxer and not Pacquiao because he remains undefeated in his entire professional boxing career. He says that Pacquiao's record is tainted because he lost three times in his own boxing career. The claims and counter claims by supporters of the two contending boxers will continue to be challenged by boxing fans while the Pacquiao-Mayweather match remains up in the air. Only a victory by one over the other will put the issue of greatness to rest. Right after the celebrated Pacquiao-Cotto match in Las Vegas last November 14, Mayweather started talking about him fighting Pacquiao. He criticized Pacquiao for not being his own man saying that he cannot decide without pointing to his promoter Bob Arum. Responding to a question from media, Mayweather said "If Manny Pacquiao wants to fight me, all he has to do is step up to the plate and say it himself". In an interview with Cher Calvin of KTLA.com, Pacquiao said yes, he wants to fight Mayweather. With these statements, there is no doubt the highly anticipated fight will happen next year.