"To only let those people with incredible amounts of money into the building (MGM Grand)--you wouldn't be allowing the extra 24,000 people who want to attend the Super Bowl of boxing."
-Bob Arum
A 40,000-seat arena might be ideal for Pacquiao-Mayweather, but for the sake of the 24,000 that Arum claims to be fighting for, one must ask if it's truly worth jeopardizing the boxing match that millions have been begging to see for years. The recent weeks mark the first time that both fighters have explicitly expressed the intent to fight each other. With the ridiculous blood testing demands being a non-issue now and Mayweather finally mustering up the courage to face Pacquiao in the ring, Bob Arum remains the only real barrier to making biggest fight the sport has ever seen a reality. We get it, Bob. What you say makes perfect sense in a perfect world where the fighters involved are eager to make it happen and are more than willing to make every concession to eliminate all roadblocks. The problem is, we've seen the exact opposite from both the Mayweather and Pacquiao camps. Both sides are equally guilty of spewing out nonsense in regards to why the most lucrative boxing match in history has not come close to happening. In a perfect world, we would already be talking bout the rubbermatch. We are officially in the now or never territory and it's time for Arum to seal the deal as quickly as possible. Forget his beloved 24,000 and focus on the 24 million people from 3 million households that will be buying the PPV.
If Arum truly had Pacquiao's best interest at hand, he will not wait a minute longer to get the contracts signed. Although Mayweather is older than Pacquiao, Pacquiao's high-energy style is much more age-sensitive and clearly we've seen Pacquiao's skills diminish over his last two bouts. If anything, Arum should've learned his lesson when Juanma Lopez-Yuriorkis Gamboa got derailed last year. If you recall, Arum stated that the fight needed to "brew a bit longer." The defiant Arum refused to acknowledge the vulnerabilty that Lopez had shown in his recent fights. After Lopez's life and death bout against Mtagwa, Arum should've realized it was time to cash in and put together Lopez-Gamboa. Then Orlando Salido came along, a fighter that Juanma was supposed to beat with relative ease. Salido had other plans and went on to win by TKO, thereby spoiling what surely would've been the Hagler-Hearns of the featherweights.
Arum is faced with a similar situation with Pacquiao, who looked ordinary at best in his third fight with Marquez. It could be that Marquez simply has Pacquiao's number and that a fight between the two would have similar results no matter how many times they do it and regardless of what stage of their careers they are in. But in his prior bout, Pacquiao did not display his typical explosiveness even after putting Mosley on the canvas. It's quite possible that Pacquiao is on the decline and can lose to his next opponent, Mayweather or not. His options include a revitalized Miguel Cotto and an undefeated Timothy Bradley, who in his own unique way could prove to be just as tough a puzzle to crack as Mayweather. It's not a stretch to see Pacquiao lose to either fighter in shocking fashion, and unlike Juanma Lopez, Pacquiao is at the end of his career. There's no coming back from a loss at this point. If he's going to lose, it might as well be against Mayweather in what will undoubtedly be not just the biggest fight in boxing history but the greatest event in all sports history.
Great fighters can dig deep and rise to the occasion even when they are seemingly past their primes. We've seen Ali do it against Foreman. We've seen Leonard do it against Hagler. We've seen Holyfield do it against Tyson. We've seen Hopkins do it against just about every fighter he has fought in the last 5 years. I'm convinced that Pacquiao has one last great performance in him and that we'll get to see it against Mayweather and Mayweather alone, win or lose. But the clock is ticking. Whatever greatness Pacquiao has in reserve can only wait for so long before it can no longer be summoned, and when that time comes Pacquiao will only have himself to blame. For the record, I'm picking Pacquiao to beat Mayweather by a TKO before the 9th round if the fight happens this May. I won't get into a comprehensive analysis but I would like to say that I believe Pacquiao has the perfect style and physical attributes to beat Mayweather. At the same time I can see Pacquiao having a much harder time against lesser opposition. My concern is that Arum will match him up against one of those fighters prior to Mayweather, and if that happens, we could very well forget about the one fight we've all been praying for.
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