Pacquiao vs. Mayweather: It’s Real, Not Talk
The fight of the century will actually happen during this century on May 2 in Las Vegas
Floyd Mayweather, who turns 38 on Tuesday, is 47-0 (26 KO). Photo: Getty Images
By Jason Gay
Updated Feb. 22, 2015 7:28 p.m. ET
Here it is—the big fight!—at long last, after years of skepticism, haggling, goading, taunting, self-inflicted snafus and exasperating near-misses. Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao will pull on the gloves and box—it feels weird to type that on the page—in person, in public, for real. The fight of the century will actually happen during this century on May 2 in Las Vegas, the garish American capital of Why Not.
Crazy, right?
So much energy had been expended complaining about Mayweather vs. Pacquiao’s failure to launch—condemning the players and the sport, trying to will the fight into existence—that it feels strange to shift the conversation to a boxing match itself. Mayweather vs. Pacquaio lived so long below a pessimistic cloud, a no-brainer dream showdown undone by reasonable and unreasonable demands, vanity, ego, and who knows what. Crankiness that this megafight hadn’t happened became an economy unto itself—The Fight That Wasn’t was bigger than any Fight That Was—and another piece of evidence in the thick case that Boxing Is Doomed. Now—suddenly—it’s on. The dream match-up is here, at 147 pounds, just a couple of months away. Wile E. Coyote has snared the roadrunner, and it is more than mildly stunning.
Naturally, because we are all impossible to please, the first reaction is to pooh-pooh the fight slightly, to point out that this really should have happened a half decade or so ago, when both men were in their early 30s and orbiting their physical primes. Pacquiao, 36, is coming off three straight victories, but before that, he suffered shocking back-to-back losses, including a frightening December 2012 knockout to Juan Manuel Marquez, which stripped away the Pac-Man’s merry aura of quickness and impenetrability. Mayweather turns 38 on Tuesday, and remains undefeated at 47-0, but his reputation has been eroded by troubling events like the 60 days he served of a 90-day sentence in 2012 after pleading guilty to misdemeanor domestic battery.
In boxing, the fighters remain top draws—the top two in the sport—but neither can claim to be fully the fighter he once was. In the time Mayweather and Pacquiao have danced around each other, they have stuck to a similar routine of fights with lesser known or well-travelled opponents (not Cotto again!). Even the matches with intrigue (Pacquiao-Marquez, Mayweather-Canelo Alvarez) could not compete with the fight the public desired. Mayweather and Pacquiao did their best to talk up their opponents, whoever they were, but the best competition was always going to be each other.
Manny Pacquiao has a record of 57-5-2 (38 KO). He will meet Mayweather at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on May 2. Photo: Getty Images
Denying the customer is no way to run a business, and as the years wore on without a Mayweather-Pacquiao collision, it was easy to be irritated with boxing. Why not do anything possible to make it happen? Mixed-martial arts is by no means a flawless operation, but the UFC has grown by serving its audience, making marquee fights happen (of course, it helps to have the UFC’s firm organizational control—and it should be pointed out that a UFC fighter can’t command anything resembling the reported $200 million plus payday Mayweather and Pacquiao are said to be splitting 60/40.)
As these latest negotiations wore on—it sparked up again during a meeting between Mayweather and Pacquiao at a Miami Heat game in January—there was the customary round of procrastination and doubt. It seemed close…but even people near the inside weren’t totally clear if and when it could be pulled off. When it was confirmed, there was something comically boxing-like that it was announced (by Mayweather on social media) after 5 p.m. ET on Friday—a tumbleweed time of the week governments and corporations use to dump bad news they want ignored.
And yet it doesn’t matter. It does not, not, not, not matter at all.
Mayweather vs. Pacquiao will be a spectacular hit, the biggest for boxing in many years. It does not matter if they announced it at 5 p.m. ET on social media or at 3 a.m. in a cave under the sea. It does not matter that they are older. Though both men are good promoters, they do not need to promote it, they do not need to say a word, they don’t need literary narration from Liev Schreiber, even though I love the literary narration from Liev Schreiber. Liev Schreiber could make a trip to the supermarket to buy an avocado sound like Ali-Frazier. They could hold this fight in a country barn, Madison Square Garden, Hinkle Fieldhouse or the Russian Continental Shelf—it will fill immediately (they’re holding it at the MGM Grand, where both boxers have fought plenty). When the pay per view price is announced—reports are it could be close to $100—there will be a round of moaning and groaning followed by a record-breaking ante up. You can book it.
They know this. They knew this. This is surely part of the reason why it took so long to get done, why HBO and Showtime were willing to collaborate and make it work. There is some cheery talk about how May 2 is going to be a sports day for the ages—that Saturday also features the Kentucky Derby, the NBA and NHL playoffs, the Red Sox and Yankees, and the final day of the NFL draft. Two things: one, I would not let my cat watch the final day of the NFL draft, and two, this fight will tower over everything that day. Mayweather vs. Pacquiao is an epic for a sport that badly needs one, and we haven’t even mentioned the rematch, which you have to figure will be coming, because the cash is too cuckoo.
The consensus at the moment is that the advantage is Mayweather’s, that Pacquiao has too many miles and exposed vulnerabilities, and Mayweather’s defensive evasiveness will make him very difficult to beat. But Pacquiao has long wanted this fight and he’s still Manny Pacquiao and...you don’t really know, do you? You really don’t know. They don’t know. That’s the whole point, why this matters, why it mattered all along, May 2, Vegas, Mayweather and Pacquiao, goodness gracious, this crazy thing is actually going to happen.
Write to Jason Gay at
Jason.Gay@wsj.com
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