The negotiations are still on-going between the fight of Pacquiao vs Mayweather who will set maybe this November 2010 for the biggest boxing fight in this decade. Pacquiao are now agree to take blood test 14 days before the fight versus Mayweather. The only left is Mayweather's camp to also agree to fight Pacquiao. With this result, a new boxing star was born, comparisons were starting to be made between Pacquiao vs Mayweather, and the thought of a mouth watering p4p showdown between the two was starting to seem all the more realistic.Floyd, in his own mind was still the pound-for-pound king, believing Manny was merely keeping his seat warm until he decided to return. Pacquiao and his trainer Freddie Roach believed differently, and made huge statements by beating two of Mayweathers best wins in Hatton and Oscar, in brutal and dominating fashion. You can believe that Floyd was not just going to accept this and in retort returned to the ring to fight Juan Manuel Marquez, the p4p no.2 at the time, and shut him out for 12 rounds in a boxing masterclass.
People can argue about the validity of this win due to Marquez fighting at his career highest weight, but you need to remember, there was more to this fight than trying to beat an elite fighter, it was about making a statement, and what better way than doing it against the very man who arguably beat Pacquiao? In the buildup to a potential showdown, Pacquiao has good wins over Cotto and Clottey, whilst Mayweather has a convincing win over Shane Mosley.
Now with the welterweight division as good as cleared out, with just Manny and Floyd truly left to argue for the p4p king and no.1 welterweight crown, surely, they MUST be on a collision course to fight as the hype,pressure and expectation for the two to meet up is so huge, that the money involved would be too much to ignore? You'd certainly hope so, and without playing any blame game as to who's fault it is for the fight not happening, all I hope for is that they can both set aside their differences and make the fight happen, as we have not had the potential for such a huge fight since the days of Ray Leonard and Marvin Hagler.
As to how I would see a Pacquaio vs Mayweather going down, I'm leaning slightly towards Floyd in a close and epic encounter. I believe that Floyds defense, footwork, speed and counter punching skill would be the deciding factor, with Pacquiaos explosive speed, power and amazing stamina giving Mayweather a hard time early on and having moments throughout, with Floyd ultimately pulling out enough to get the win. The main reason that I see this happening is because Pacquiao hasn't fought a true boxer since Juan Manuel Marquez, and whilst I think Manny has improved alot since then, Mayweather should have enough to be able to outbox him. Well let's all find out.
