Every time Manny Pacquiao fights and wins a big fight just like last Nov. 14 against Antonio Margarito, calls for him to face off with Floyd Mayweather Jr. has always followed. As his usual behavior and reactions to this, Pacquiao never shows fear or reluctance to these calls but always expresses eagerness and willingness of fighting him. On the other hand, it’s this cocky but coward American Mayweather who always finds loopholes and alibis to avoid fighting Pacquiao. Despite juicy offers from Top Rank promoter Bob Arum of unprecedented and record breaking prize money that could net them up to $40M each, Mayweather still had the guts to turn them down. And in its stead, he reasons out that they (Arum and Pacquiao) just can’t give in to his demands for such a super fight. However, the conditions Mayweather laid out are just too much and too unreasonable that both Arum and Pacquiao could not give in.
In asking for an advantage of 60-40 share of the purse, Arum saw that it’s just not fair knowing that Pacquiao is the bigger draw and not Mayweather. When Arum counteroffers with a 50-50 split, Mayweather stands firm in his demands and rejects it each time. In return, Pacquiao rejects his demands for an Olympic-style of blood tests days prior to the fight. Pacquiao contends that these are already out of the requirements of every boxing commission in the US that he would not abide by it as he’s “clean”, and that he has no history of drug use. In fact, it’s not a secret anymore that those demands are just Mayweather’s way out of this fight. In reality, he is just plain scared of Pacquiao. Somehow, he still had the guts to show off by overrating himself, belittles and sometimes, he along with his trainer-father Floyd, Sr. even throw insults at Pacquiao .
It’s no wonder too that what Mayweather only boasts about himself all the time is just his record of being “undefeated”. Yet, he refuses to back this up by not agreeing to a fight. In avoiding such a showdown with Pacquiao, Arum calls him a “psychological coward” and it just fits him right. Many other others have given him names, too like Gayweather, Chicken Floyd Mayweather and many other in the Internet. He is not alone with this kind of behavior, however, that whatever reasons he holds on to, he alone knows and this has precedents in this sport.
During the mid-60s when Muhammad Ali had just been crowned as world’s heavyweight champion after wresting it from Sonny Liston, a fellow American fighter named Ernie Terrell, tried to avoid fighting him. Seeing that Ali was just too smart, too good and too fast for him, Terrell kept a low-profile for years until their path crossed later. At the time, only two governing bodies governed boxing, namely: the World Boxing Association (WBA) and the World Boxing Council (WBC). The so-called “Bible of Boxing” Ring Magazine had its own champions and respective contenders in all divisions but it did not have a say in the boxers’ fights. Instead, it just published boxing news, articles, schedules and ranks fighters.
When Ali defended his world title for the first time against Sonny Liston, he angered the WBA. The WBA ordered that he fights former world champion Floyd Patterson first. By ignoring its order, it then stripped Ali of the world title but Ali just did not mind it. Knowing well where he stood in the world stage then, Ali made it known then that he did not like being dictated who to fight. So, while the whole boxing world, the WBC and Ring Magazine recognized Ali as the world champion, the WBA had its heavyweight title vacant.
Giving Liston another chance to redeem himself of his former title, Ali easily finished him off in just one round and with just a single punch. The fight drew controversy that Liston “fixed” his own knockout. It was from this fight that Ali’s infamous “Phantom Punch” was born. Then, Ali fought Floyd Patterson next. Again, it was a mismatch as Ali knocked him out in 12 rounds. By then, the WBA has already called for a series of elimination bouts among its top contenders to find and recognize as its world champion. As the process of finding a champion by the WBA was ongoing, Ali had already defended his title a third time. This time, it was against George Chuvalo of Canada and it was a 15-round unanimous decision win. Ali dominated the fight and despite there were no knockdowns scored by either fighter, Chuvalo was all battered up. After Chuvalo and running out of worthy contenders to fight at home, Ali ventured to Europe and there, he fought twice in England against Henry Cooper and Brian London, and once in Germany against Karl Mildenberger. Ali won all three fights with easy knockouts.
Running out again of worthy challengers in Europe, Ali went home for more fights and at this time, the WBA had already a world champion in Ernie Terrell. Despite calls from different sectors for him to fight Ali, Terrell stood his ground and ignored the demands. So, Ali then just fought and defended for the seventh time his world title against Cleveland Williams. It was in this fight that Ali showed his finest performance in the ring exhibiting his original and famous “Ali Shuffle” stance never seen in boxing. It’s a boxing move that only Ali can perform and with grace. Future world champion Larry Holmes tried imitating it in his undercard fight against Rodney (or brother Duane) Bobick in the Thrilla in Manila in 1975 but it was a very far cry from Ali’s.
Like in his every fight, Ali took command of his fight with Williams from the opening bell throwing punches in rapid pace giving Williams no chance of ever defending himself decently. Rattled by the Ali Shuffle, a fast shuffling of his feet and followed by a barrage of accurate punches, the referee called a halt to the carnage in the 3rd round after Ali sent Williams a third time to the canvass in the fight. After the fight was over and with Ali now on the ground mobbed by the reporters and fans, he saw Terrell who stands 6ft 6 inches towers over the crowd. Immediately, Ali pointed a finger at him and said: “You’re next, Terrell!!”
More next issue…..
