“I want Floyd for my next fight,” - Pacquiao

MANILA, Philippines — Speaking from his lair in General Santos City, Manny Pacquiao declared that he wants no less than Floyd Mayweather as opponent.

“I want Floyd for my next fight,” Pacquiao said as quoted by his lawyer Franklin Gacal after asking his boss who he wants as his rival for his first fight in 2012.

Although the major players are frugal in making statements regarding negotiations, Gacal said something is going on the past few days, confirming the accounts of meetings being talked about by Top Rank head Bob Arum.

Arum said early this week that investment groups have approached him about putting up the mouth-watering match but did not go into details, saying it might jeopardize the project.

Gacal said they’re being updated on what has taken place and what are being discussed and are keenly awaiting the outcome of the said negotiations that are being kept under wraps.

Last week, upon his return to General Santos City, Pacquiao told the local media that talks have commenced to stage a Pacquiao-Mayweather showdown that will go down as the richest in the history of the sport.
Pacquiao is coming off a hard-earned 12-round majority decision over Juan Manuel Marquez of Mexico.

While Pacquiao told Marquez that he is not ducking a fourth fight with the master counter-puncher, the Filipino is convinced the time is now for him to face off with the brash American puncher.

“The Fight of the Century,” said Gacal, who is keeping his fingers crossed that Pacquiao-Mayweather finally happens next year after efforts to pair them together failed twice.

The major obstacles – random blood testing and revenue sharing – have reportedly been hurdled, paving the way for both parties to talk business.

Meanwhile, Representative Pacquiao plans to bring before the House of Representatives the dumping last weekend by alleged commercial fishing boats of tons of dead tuna along the Sarangani Bay.

Pacquiao, told reporters he would specifically present before the House’s Committee on Fisheries the results of an ongoing investigation on the incident by the local governments of Maasim and Sarangani. (With a report from PNA.

Source: Manila Bulletin -NICK GIONGCO

Winner on Mosley and Mayweather fight will be Manny's next opponenet

Roach goes on to say that he hopes it will be Mosley who Pacquiao faces, because it will be an exciting bout for boxing fans to see. It’s also a fight that Pacquiao would have a better chance at winning, Roach doesn’t say. The one problem that will prevent the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight from taking place is the egos involved. Pacquiao’s side added a $10 million dollar penalty to the contract for every pound that either fighter came in over the fight weight.

Mayweather agreed to it. This was something that would hurt Mayweather, the bigger fighter, more than it would Pacquiao. But when Mayweather wanted to have Olympic style random blood testing to take place, then all of a sudden there was a problem because Pacquiao didn’t feel comfortable having his blood tested close to the fight. 

Roach took way of looking at it, thinking that Mayweather was trying to push Pacquiao and him around by asking for the blood testing. Mayweather didn’t appear to be doing this out of gamesmanship or for wanting to gain some kind of unfair advantage over Pacquiao. He just had some real concerns about Pacquiao and wanted to make sure that he was fighting a drug free fighter. It’s hard to find any fault with Mayweather for wanting that. Roach seems to have twisted things in his head, and sees it as a power struggle with Mayweather. 

Roach says that they’re going to try and make the fight with Mayweather. However, in the next breath Roach says “Any commission test, and sanctioning body test, we’ll do. But we will not do private testing with a company that Floyd hires. It’s not going to happen.” What this means then, if Roach is serious about what he’s saying, is that Pacquiao and his team will abide by what the World Boxing Organization and the Athletic Commission [likely the Texas Athletic Commission] says about what kinds of testing that should be done for the fight. 

In other words, there won’t be any random blood testing done for a fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao. The reason is because neither Texas, the WBO nor the California Athletic Commission requires blood testing for boxers. All they test for is urine, and not blood. What this means is that unless Mayweather accepts what the Athletic and WBO mandate for testing, there won’t be a fight.

Last time out, Pacquiao was willing to take limited blood tests, but not the random blood testing that Mayweather wanted. Pacquiao was willing to have his blood tested up until 24 days before the fight. This time, it looks like there won’t be any blood testing unless Pacquiao agrees to it, and it’s not sounding like he will or if the WBO or Athletic Commissions agree to it. 

They probably won’t. The weird thing is, Mayweather agreed to the $10 million dollar penalty, and didn’t see it as being pushed around, even though if he wanted to he could have twisted things in his head and seen it that way. Basically, it was a move that would mess Mayweather potentially because he had problems making weight in his last fight against Juan Manuel Marquez last September. 

If Roach knows what he’s talking about and is speaking for Pacquiao, then it looks like there won’t be a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight in the future. Pacquiao can always fight Mosley, the probable loser in the Mayweather-Mosley fight. After all, Pacquiao is fighting Joshua Clottey on Saturday night, and he was beaten in his last fight against Miguel Cotto. Pacquiao would then be fighting someone who had recently beaten, which is pretty much what he’s been doing for the past two years in fights against Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Cotto.

Clottey vs. Pacquiao bout is just a waste of time

We already know the likely outcome of this fight. Anything can happen when it comes to boxing, but everything is set up for Pacquiao to win. This can be a real easy fight for Pacquiao. Although Clottey is a solid defensive fighter who does a good job of shielding himself from harm with his Winky Wright like defense, he is flat footed and like recent Pacquiao opponents, or actually like most of the opponents Pacquiao has faced. Clottey also likes to press forward which suits perfectly with Pacquiao’s plans. The Ghanaian warrior simply does not have the style to beat Pacquiao, and he also lacks the speed and power to seriously leave an imprint on Pacquiao. I can visualize Manny bouncing around the ring moving in and out, while Clottey slowly drags his feet forward and will end up getting tagged by the much quicker Pacquiao all night long. Clottey is far from weak, but he does not possess devastating knock out power so there is no threat there. Although Clottey is the bigger fighter coming into this match up, he may not even get the chance to impose his size on Manny. And I have a suspicion even if Clottey makes it a close fight and it goes the full 12 rounds, the judges will award Pacquiao with the automatic decision because of the politics of the sport. 

Another strike against Joshua is his level of opposition. The only marquee names on his resume include Cotto, Judah, Baldomir, and Margarito. Clottey has not really stood out against the few good opponents he has faced. He basically stopped fighting against Margarito after he broke his hands mid way through the fight, he lost composure and could not control his emotions and got disqualified against Baldomir. He had a decent showing against a faded Zab Judah, who by the way was coming off a knock out loss to Miguel Cotto, a sound defeat by the hands of Floyd Mayweather, and some inner turmoil and inactivity. Then we have the late great Diego Corrales. The problem with the Corrales victory is the proud warrior was only a shell of his former self and was moving up from his natural light weight class up to welterweight.

This isn’t to knock Joshua Clottey because he is a tough fighter and possess qualities that make him a solid contender. But you can surely question his status as an elite fighter, and seeing as he is coming off a loss, he probably shouldn’t be stepping in the ring with the likes of Manny Pacquiao. If you’re Manny, why fight a guy who recently lost to the guy you just beat?

Why even put this on ppv? Why waste the time of boxing fans putting this together? Especially in wake of the elections going on in the Philippines, and with the recent leg injury to Pacquiao suffered in camp, wouldn’t it be best to put a halt to everything and wait for things to play out? Ok you couldn’t secure a fight with Mayweather, so maybe you can find another fight right? Like maybe against the likes of Shane Mosley, or Paul Williams, or even Yuri Foreman. The Foreman fight would work out because he is a Top Rank fighter so Arum can make more money off that and keep the cash in-house just like he would with Clottey. Also in fighting Foreman, Pacquiao would also being chasing history with the 8th title. Or you could just let Pacquiao rest and handle the elections and try to make a fight with Mayweather later in the year.

Apparently, Mr. Arum had other plans. And lets say the impossible happens and Pacquiao loses to Joshua Clottey March 13th what happens then? Clottey vs. the winner of Mayweather/Mosley? Do you know how much money Arum would lose out on? The dream match everyone had hoped for between Mayweather and Pacquiao probably wouldn’t even happen and boxing would suffer another huge blow.

Why did Pacquiao have to pick Clottey as an opponent?

Out of all the welterweights in the top 15, why on earth did Manny Pacquiao and his team select Joshua Clottey to fight on March 13th? I can’t understand that pick in a million years. Why didn’t Pacquiao fight Shane Mosley or Andre Berto instead? Come on, those guys would much more interesting than a Clottey fight.

Mosley was practically begging for a fight with Pacquiao to the point where he was willing to agree to one of those god awful catch weights just to fight him. Why didn’t he get selected? All I can say about the choice of Clottey is that it was poor one. 

If this wasn’t Pacquiao’s doing, then he should have stood up on his hind legs and said no. Give me Mosley, Berto or better yet, give me Juan Manuel Marquez. I’d even settle for Saul Alvarez. I can’t even get into the Pacquiao-Clottey fight. I just keep picturing Clottey hanging on the ropes and Pacquiao pounding away at him like it’s some glorified sparring match. Yeah, Clottey has a chance to win, but only if he lands a lucky punch in the bread basket of Pacquiao. I think he can stop Pacquiao if he lands a hard shot to the body that Pacquiao is isn’t expecting.

Mayweather is evading Pacquiao

Majority of fight fans believe Mayweather ducked Pacquiao using random blood test as the perfect alibi to back out and still look good; knowing pretty well that it is unacceptable to Pacquiao. The refusal of Pacquiao to take the officially unrequired test put the Filipino ring icon’s achievements into question but the negative effect to Mayweather is heavier as he is now branded as the greatest coward and puts his legacy into closer scrutiny.

The delay of Mayweather’s signing the fight contract with Mosley can be interpreted as – MAYWEATHER STILL FIGURING OUT A GOOD ALIBI TO GET OUT FROM THE MOSLEY FIGHT!
If the fight eventually happens, Mayweather will be exposed further. After losing to Mosley, he will no longer be able to call the shots. Either he will retire or try to redeem himself by fighting Pacquiao. But he has to wait because what certainly will follow will be Pacquiao vs. Mosley.

Mayweather is not good for the boxing world. Look at this guy, he proclaims himself to be the best but fights only people he can surely beat. How about his fight with Mosley? I’ll bet that even if the contract is signed something will come out to jeopardize the fight.

Pacquiao fights March 13. Mayweather fights May 1. Why May 1? Mayweather knows Pacquiao will not wait for May 1 for an uncertain fight with Mayweather. So, by simply fighting on May 1, Mayweather again evades Pacquiao. He is not only good in ducking punches, he is best in ducking THE BEST!

Why is Mayweather ducking Pacquiao in spite of his “greatness”? Here are some reasons some already may know:

1. By losing to a smaller man his ego will suffer. BETTER lose to a bigger fighter like Mosly. He can always justify that. If Mayweather loses to Mosley, Mosley would be aged 40 by the time a rematch happens. An older Mosley will not have the same firepower. If he loses twice, he will not be ducking Pacquiao anymore because Pacquiao will not be interested. In same manner, if Pacquiao loses to Clottey or anybody later, Mayweather won’t get interested.

2. Mayweather will be totally exposed in fighting Pacquiao when Pac can take Floyd’s best punches. Freddie Roach, Pac’s trainer has a third eye in spotting weaknesses to be exploited by the versatile Pac. Consider the following:

1. Floyd gains upperhand after his opponent gets tired (Floyd will tire before Pac will).

2. He has difficulty against the left jab. Pac has lightning left punch. When Floyd is being assaulted by a left, his reaction is to duck, retreat, or cover where he has success with slower opponents with less firepower. Certainly, he’ll get a lot of problems with Pacquiao.

3. Floyd can’t cover his ribs while protecting his face with the shoulder roll. The shoulder roll is a strategy by Floyd for his opponent to invite punches to his face thereby distracting a target to his body where he is WEAK. Floyd’s weakness is in the body where both his arms protect it. Much mistakes were made because they all took the bait by targeting his head. He is afraid of Cotto because Cotto is an excellent body puncher. He had a hard time against Castillo who bullied him and made him a punching bag.

4. His inherent fear against good fighters will take its toll once he realizes he is hit or cut. Pacquiao has speed, stamina, durability, power, and GUTS, all the things Floyd has never encountered in one package. If I am Floyd, I’ll risk my reputation to boxing other fighters but NOT PACQUIAO!