It’s already 2014 and the planet is watching the end of yet another World Cup in the most popular sport in the world. But two of the most popular fighters on the same planet still refuse to give the world the fight everyone wants to see.
Yep, it’s that time of the year again: the early May fights are long gone, the late September/November schedule is in, and the most anticipated fight in recent memory is in neither list.
Apparently, it’s time for the already familiar realization that Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao will not be fighting each other this year either. And, as usual, it’s time to review the reasons why this is happening and why it won’t likely happen anytime soon.
First things first: the boxing world is in turmoil. The nasty Golden Boy-Top Rank pissing contest took a few ugly turns with the foreseen departure of GB’s CEO Richard Schaefer and his entire team, and immediately, speculations that Floyd Mayweather would hire Schaefer as the virtual head of his own Mayweather Promotions outfit became more than a rumor.
But if Floyd’s short-lived association with rapper-entrepreneur 50 Cent taught us anything is that Mayweather is still miles away from becoming a successful promoter in his own right. And while we wait for that day to arrive, he has chosen to team up once again with Oscar de la Hoya for his customary mid-September bout.
As odd as this choice may seem, it comes as no surprise at all. A Mayweather fight requires a massive media and logistic effort, and the list of promotional companies capable of handling such tasks is very short. Plus, Mayweather is no stranger to flip-flops: he dropped his partnership with 50 Cent literally minutes after the rapper had a very public clash with De La Hoya in the Twitter-verse while the beleaguered fighter was briefly incarcerated, and now he jumped back on GB’s bandwagon only weeks after everything suggested that he and Schaefer were getting ready to bring on a new world order to boxing.
But that’s all water under the bridge now, and Mayweather (46-0, 26 KO) already has a date (September 13th) and an opponent, which is none other than his most recent foe Marcos Maidana (35-4, 31 KO) of Argentina, a fighter that gave him one of the toughest fights in recent memory. It will be Mayweather’s 10th straight fight in the same venue that held his previous fight: the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and the announcement also put an end to the speculation that Mayweather was headed towards fulfilling his dream of making a high-profile title defense in New York City after his company had successfully applied for a promoting license in that state, and after the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn had extended one of the most generous offers in recent memory for Mayweather to move his act to the East Coast.
Meanwhile, on the other side of boxing’s most storied non-rivalry ever, Manny Pacquiao did move his act to the East Coast. The Far East Coast, actually. Again.
Read More: Manny Pacquiao’s Top 5 Potential Next Opponents
This time, the multi-division champion and Filipino congressman will be traveling to Macao, China, once again. His foe this time will be recently crowned WBO junior welterweight titlist Chris Algieri (20-0, 8 KO), fresh off his win over Ruslan Provodnikov back in May, and the tentative date is November 22nd for a PPV event at the Venetian Resort and Casino in Macao.
Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KO) will be returning to the same venue where he defeated Brandon Rios last November, and his new trip to China will further solidify his strategy of ending his career in that country, a much friendlier tax environment for him.
Still, he will be taking a potentially expensive gamble in this fight, as he will be facing a virtually unknown champ who just squeezed by a tough, controversial decision against Provodnikov, coming off the canvas to outland his foe but never putting him in danger. Nonetheless, his choice of a much taller, younger fighter with tons of mobility and speed could be considered a healthy departure from his previous choice of foes, more oriented towards brawling types such as Marquez, Cotto and others.
Pacquiao is also coming of a rematch against Tim Bradley in which he regained the same title he had lost to him the year before, but time will tell if this new strategy is aimed towards providing clues about what a potential Pacquiao-Mayweather fight would look like.
But there is hope yet. Mayweather has promised a “big surprise” for his early May 2015 fight, and that could mean a lot of things. Ideally, De La Hoya’s newfound willingness to negotiate with Arum could mean that finally “The Fight” could be made.
But ultimately, this fight is quickly becoming one of those things that we might have to learn to live without. Forever.
