The real duel

By Al S. Mendoza

 

BEFORE you get carried away, one more point: Floyd Mayweather isn’t just a thinking fighter, he is also a cunning manager.

He wouldn’t have come this far in his boxing career if he weren’t the master tactician that he is on the roped arena.

His 47-0, win-loss record astoundingly attests to that.

One cannot just achieve that without a brain as razor-sharp as Mayweather’s.

He wouldn’t have recorded that spotless mark if his mind didn’t have even a bit of Ali’s genius.

Mayweather has only one reason why he has kept himself busy being elusive when it comes to fighting Manny Pacquiao.

He knows boxing’s finance moguls know they’d rake in the goods once the Pacquiao-Mayweather gets inked.

He knows the main characters in the fight would emerge instant millionaires with the money generated once the fight is on.

He knows the big-time gamblers, the Vegas vagabonds, would reap rewards beyond their wildest dreams.

But what’s wrong with all of that?

Nothing.  Except that Mayweather must have to earn more than them because he knows he is the reason they’ll rip it apart with him fighting Pacquiao.

And before they could clear the cookie jar rock bottom, he should be first in the looting spree.

Get the drift?

With Mayweather around, you cannot just fool around with him.

He is so adept at going around in circles you will never know when he is serious or not.

That is why he is a boxer and the manager of himself all at the same time.

Pacquiao can fight him anytime, why not?

But Pacquiao can never be in equal terms with Mayweather inside the board room.

Pacquiao may have a chance—slim as it may be—of defeating Mayweather atop the ring.

But off the ring, Mayweather will knock Pacquiao out.  Easily.

Haven’t you noticed?  Even Bob Arum alone, a master negotiator, is no match to Mayweather’s boardroom antics.

For nearly six years now, Mayweather has repeatedly run circles around Arum.

Arum has been known for almost 50 years now as a calculating promoter, having made a name as one of the key figures that clinched the Ali-Frazier “Thrilla in Manila” match in 1975 at the Cubao Big Dome.

But, seemingly, the cliché, “everyone has a match,” has got to be applied to Arum in the instant case.

Against Mayweather the boxer-manager, Arum the grizzled promoter has been sitting on so-called pins and needles since 2010.

Many a time that Arum—and the world—thought the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight was a go.

But just when everybody was about ready to celebrate, Mayweather would suddenly say, “Not so fast, fellas.  There is no contract to be signed.  N’yet.  They are lying.”

Mayweather rules that’s why he is 47 and 0.

Arum rules, too, but only when Mayweather isn’t around.

So, who said the match-up is between Pacquiao and Mayweather?

Wrong.  All this time, the duel has been Arum versus Mayweather.

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