General Admission
It is all hype
By Al S. Mendoza
IN virtually all big fights, you hear everything.
It is standard.
It is in its nature.
It is all business.
The Pacquiao-Mayweather is no exception.
What kind of training, who is ahead in strategy, when will one hit his peak, etcetera, etcetera.
Only in boxing that the weirdest, the craziest and the most unholy things can be laid down in wild abandon.
It is all hype, though.
It is all psy-war.
And it is all sound, too—lacking mostly in fury.
Boxing needs talkers who can discourse on anything under the sun.
It is a must that an upcoming fight must be talked about all the time.
One day must not pass without a word about it.
No one cares if the topic discussed is true, sensible and with substance or not.
The key is non-stop talk about the fight.
One day that passes without mention of the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight is unacceptable.
Non-stop debate, arguing, on the fight is a must—like a faucet left running all day long.
Pacquiao’s camp said the PacMan broke a rib of his spar mate.
Whether true or not, it doesn’t matter.
Mayweather’s camp said The Money was floored by his sparmate.
Whether true or not, it doesn’t matter.
On the last item, it did break in the news that Mayweather kissed the canvas during sparring.
He denied it. But, of course.
It may have happened, yes, but still, Mayweather must deny it as his image, reputation, was put to question.
Mayweather is unbeaten in 47 fights, and has never been knocked down decisively.
Thus, he is very touchy when it comes to how his sparring goes.
He has said he runs at night unlike many boxers who do it at day time, like Pacquiao.
He spars in the afternoon.
He works the gym up to 11 p.m.
His training is irregular, doing it as he sees fit.
In short, Mayweather does it his own way.
And that’s because he doesn’t take his trainer seriously; weirdly, his own father is his trainer.
Mayweather has fired his father before, not just once but twice already.
Actually, Mayweather loves to do it solo, minus many assistants/alalays.
Not Pacquiao.
The PacMan has Freddie Roach as his chief trainer, with four other Filipinos as assistant trainers led by his boyhood friend, Buboy Fernandez.
Mayweather has said he has hit 147 lbs, the limit in the world welterweight fight set for May 2 in Las Vegas (May 3 in the Philippines).
“I can fight Pacquiao now with the condition that I am in,” he said on Monday, almost 34 days to the fight.
In contrast, Roach said Pacquiao has four more weeks to hit peak form.
Meaning, while Mayweather boasts of being in tip-top shape already, Pacquiao isn’t even 50 percent yet, condition-wise.
Now, who do we believe between Mayweather and Roach?
Our word/answer won’t matter.
It is theirs only that matters.
Get the drift?
Happy Easter!
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