I WONDER what an amateur boxing historian, 200 years from now, would think should he come across Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s boxing record. Would his curiosity be piqued by the fights late in his career, when he faced an MMA champion who was making his boxing debut and then a YouTube star? And would he also find out that in between those two bouts, the boxing legend fought a 10-round exhibition.
Would he think, “What strange fights they had 200 years ago”? Or, would there be more than enough fights like Mayweather vs. Jake Paul in the next decade or so that there would be enough documentation for boxing historians 200 years from now to dub this era as the Crazy One for boxing?
They just announced Mayweather vs. Jake Paul and we all know why that’s going to happen.
It’s all about the money, and when it comes to money, well, Mayweather rakes it in. Didn’t he change his nickname from Pretty Boy Floyd to Money Mayweather?
Boxing purists will bash the fight, of course, but Mayweather and Jake Paul will be laughing their way to the bank. And in the strange world of boxing, that’s all that matters eh? As long as there are fans willing to shell out money to watch fights like this, there will be fights like this.
What will come next? Mayweather vs. a WWE star? Oh, he went that route once, didn’t he?
But at least, the boxing purists have another fight to train their eyes on -- Manny Pacquiao vs. Mikey Garcia. That is if the fight will push through in Dubai in July as scheduled.
At least this one won’t be between a YouTube star and a retired fighter. Pacquiao (62-7-2) is nine years older than the 33-year-old Garcia (40-1) and has 30 more fights under his belt. This fight came about after negotiations for a Pacquiao vs. Terrence Crawford fight fell through and that would have the fight the fans wanted.
Pacquiao, the WBA champion in recess against Crawford, the undefeated WBO champion.
But as all boxing fans have learned to accept in the last decade or so, we rarely get the fights we want, and when we do get them, we get them really late. I mean, we got Mayweather vs. Pacquiao some five years before it should have happened.
So, Manny will end his 21-month hiatus in July and I guess, that’s something we can look forward to.