Mayweather-Pacquiao

Mayweather-Pacquiao is finally happening! How come I'm not so excited?

Do you remember what your Christmas wish list was when you were around seven years old? Most likely it would have been item that were extremely fashionable at the time. Can you imagine how you felt when you didn’t get it? As time passed on, you yearned still for it although you didn’t get it and during that time other things would have piqued your interest. Now imagine  Santa Claus remembering your wish list when you became a teenager and only then granting you what you wished for. The item(s) may still be appealing in themselves but your yearning has diminished so greatly that you have little appreciation for the item(s) any more.

Promotional poster for the fight.

This is how I felt when the long-mooted-but-never-materialising dream matchup between USA's Floyd "Money" Mayweather Jr. and The Philippines' Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao finally became a concrete reality. Their bout, which is scheduled to be held on May 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, has been touted since late 2009. It will pit the two best fighters of their generation against each other, if not the two best pound-for-pound boxing machines ever. In Mayweather, you have an undefeated (47-0-0, 26 KOs) five-division world champion (super featherweight, lightweight, super lightweight, welterweight, super welterweight). In Pacquiao, you have a world record-holding eight-division world champion (flyweight, super bantamweight, featherweight, super featherweight/junior lightweight, lightweight, junior welterweight, welterweight and super welterweight) with a 57-5-2 record (38 KOs).

Floyd "Money" Mayweather, Jr. - The Ring No. 1 ranked pound for pound fighter

 There are several reasons this fight should appeal to boxing fans. The winner of this fight will unify the WBA, WBC and The Ring welterweight titles, currently held by Mayweather, and the WBO welterweight title currently held by Pacquiao. Both boxers have blazed trails in multiple weight divisions, often dominating the same opponents yet somehow managing to evade each other, prompting observers to speculate for years who truly is the best. As a result they became boxing superstars, with the world literally begging for a best-versus-the-best superfight.

Emmanuel "Manny" "Pacman" Pacquiao - Pride of the Philippines! Singer, senator and pro basketball player/coach too!

And what a superfight it will be, especially from a financial standpoint. Because of their respective exclusive deals with Showtime and HBO cable networks, Mayweather-Pacquiao promises to be the highest grossing fight in history, with figures of over US $200 million being bandied about. Fight purses have not yet been finalised but Mayweather is expected to be guaranteed a purse - win or lose - in excess of US $50 million for a maximum of 36 minutes work. Pacquiao is expected to earn about two thirds of whatever Mayweather receives, thanks to a 60/40 split.

How does this jibe with the sentiments I opened with? Well, for me and many boxing fans this is a matchup that is happening about 5-6 years too late. The caps-gun I wanted at 7 means relatively precious little to me when I get it at 13, when tastes have evolved to make Nintendo the current object of desire. (These toy references may belie my age!) In late 2009, when the super-bout was first conceptualised, 32-year-old Mayweather was 40-0, having come out of an almost 2-year, self-imposed retirement to defeat Juan Manuel Marquez. Pacquiao, a month shy of 32, had also just dispatched Miguel Cotto to win the WBO welterweight title he still holds and improving to 50-3-2. As you may guess, the prospect of those titans colliding was mouth-watering. The fact that it took so long to actually happen is probably what makes this so anticlimactic.

When we still thought this was a fight we weren't going to ever see ... but the picture tells a story!

Both fighters will now be five and a half years older now. Their records from 2010 onward have not been that impressive in comparison to their previous efforts. Mayweather has fought seven times since then - seven wins featuring only one knockout victory. With those victories, he regained his welterweight and light middleweight titles (he no longer competes in the super featherweight and lightweight divisions). Dominant force though he may still be, Mayweather is no longer the unstoppable force he was once considered to be.

Mayweather before he regained the WBC welterweight belt from Ortiz in 2011.

Pacquiao has fared the worse of the two in the intervening years. Fighting 9 times, he also won seven but suffered two successive losses, one of those costing him the WBO welterweight title to Timothy Bradley in 2012 via a highly controversial split-decision - a belt subsequently regained from Bradley in their 2014 rematch. Pacquiao has not added to his knockout tally since the Cotto bout and in fact has been knocked out himself in the other loss (to Marquez, also in 2012).

Pacquaio jubilant despite his loss to Erik Morales in 2005

With their respective recent boxing histories, it can be expected that their bout may just go the full 12 rounds. Also, as the twilight of their careers beckons, both have no reason to risk it all for the win. This apparent lack of motivation (outside of the financial windfall) makes this fight hollow in comparison to the initial 2009 proposal. Whoever wins this bout can legitimately claim to be the best fighter, pound for pound, while unifying the welterweight division titles but it will be when being considered the best has lost its real significance or relevance. The fans, promised a lobster dinner for so long, now have to settle for a foot-long Subway seafood and lobster sandwich instead. Definitely not the lobster we wanted.

See ScottyPedia's bold predictions below!

ScottyPedia's predictions? I see this going the full 12, with Mayweather winning by either majority or split-decision. Even though Pacquiao is 20 months younger, he has had 17 more professional fights and may be too battle-worn to outfox and out-box the wily Mayweather.