{"id":417400,"date":"2011-05-04T15:23:00","date_gmt":"2011-05-04T15:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/05\/04\/mayweather-fight-or-no-pacmans-place-is-secure-yahoo-sports\/"},"modified":"2011-05-04T15:23:00","modified_gmt":"2011-05-04T15:23:00","slug":"mayweather-fight-or-no-pacmans-place-is-secure-yahoo-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/04\/mayweather-fight-or-no-pacmans-place-is-secure-yahoo-sports\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayweather fight or no, Pacman’s place is secure (Yahoo! Sports)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

LAS VEGAS \u2013 Eight months after Floyd Mayweather Jr. broadsided him with a vile, racist, homophobic attack, Manny Pacquiao had the means, the motive and the opportunity on Tuesday to return the favor.<\/p>\n

Just five days before he defends his World Boxing Organization welterweight belt in Saturday\u2019s main event of a pay-per-view card against Shane Mosley at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Pacquiao was sitting with a small group of reporters when, as always occurs in these types of gatherings, someone mentioned Mayweather.<\/p>\n

A fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather would be the biggest in boxing history. Mayweather, though, hasn\u2019t fought in a year and has shown no inclination to get into the ring with Pacquiao. The closest he has come to a confrontation with Pacquiao has been through his webcam, when he posted a video on uStream.com in September in which, among other things, he referred to Pacquiao as \u201ca yellow chump\u201d and a \u201cmidget.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mayweather\u2019s rant on uStream was one of the most galling, offensive things any well-known professional athlete has ever said publicly.<\/p>\n

And this came on the heels of Mayweather essentially leading a whisper campaign that alleged Pacquiao is a steroids user.<\/p>\n

Pacquiao had every right to be angry at Mayweather and to blast him publicly. Given the chance on Tuesday, however, Pacquiao showed why he is one of the most beloved athletes in the world.<\/p>\n

He responded to repeated queries about Mayweather\u2019s prolonged absence from the sport with grace, humility and style. He didn\u2019t take a cheap shot when no one would have blamed him if he had.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know what? I don\u2019t want to talk about Floyd Mayweather\u2019s issues, or anything like that,\u201d Pacquiao said. \u201cI\u2019m the kind of person who doesn\u2019t want to talk about someone behind his back. He did his best in boxing. He contributed to the history of boxing. Let\u2019s talk about the fight on Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was it. Simple, honest, classy and sincere. He\u2019s arguably the most revered athlete in the world, and no longer is it just Filipinos who worship him.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s rich and famous beyond all measure. He began to box as a teen-ager, when he knew his mother couldn\u2019t afford to pay for his education, so that he could earn money for his family. He spent many nights on the street and would often wonder if he\u2019d make it to the sunrise. He awakened hungry on many an occasion.<\/p>\n

But as he began to earn a professional paycheck, he didn\u2019t see it as an opportunity to buy fancy cars and acquire material possessions. He looked around him and saw others who are in worse shape than he was. He was hardly worldly, but it bothered him to see others suffering and he desperately wanted to try to help.<\/p>\n

As an adult, he ran for office in the Philippines and was elected as a congressman representing the Sarangani province, but his desire to help his countrymen began long before anyone beyond the shores of the Philippine Islands knew who he was.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I started fighting in the ring and began fighting professionally, every day when I saw the poor people sleeping in the street, you know, I kind of began thinking that someday, I hope I could help them, give them food,\u201d he said. \u201cI wanted to help them, but I wasn\u2019t thinking about going into politics then. My dream was that I hoped I could help them and give them food and housing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was 16 years old. I was just thinking and I was imagining how I wished I could help them. I felt what they were feeling, sleeping in the street, because I had been there.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was a guy without anything to his name, yet his thought was far beyond himself. Never did he expect to be rich. Never did he expect to be endorsing computers and vegetables and sneakers and cologne. Never did he expect to have won six sanctioning body titles and beaten the linear champion in two other divisions.<\/p>\n

It was all beyond comprehension for a guy looking just to survive, to help his family and maybe to have enough left over to help someone even less fortunate than himself.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s now one of the richest men in the Philippines and an idol of millions. But should he lose it all, he would be fine.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that\u2019s God\u2019s way, I will accept that,\u201d he said simply. \u201cThat\u2019s life. For me, my boss, my overall boss, is God.\u201d<\/p>\n

The guy who grew up watching tapes on his clunky old Betamax VCR of Julio Cesar Chavez, Roy Jones, Sugar Ray Leonard and Oscar De La Hoya has moved into the same stratospheric level where his idols once resided. And, as much as he\u2019s accomplished, the future has rarely been brighter. He\u2019s guaranteed a purse of $20 million for Saturday\u2019s fight with Mosley and will get a share of the pay-per-view proceeds. Early indicators are strong and it would hardly be a surprise were the final sales figures to soar well beyond 1.5 million and set a personal career high.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a likely match in the fall with his long-time nemesis, Juan Manuel Marquez, and it\u2019s not totally out of the question that Mayweather will finally come to his senses and take the fight.<\/p>\n

Fight, and defeat, Mayweather and Pacquiao may wind up bigger than anyone ever to step into the ring with the possible exception of Muhammad Ali. But Pacquiao knows that fame is fleeting and success is often short-lived. His boxing career will be over soon and there will be a time when the crowds thin and the ovations die.<\/p>\n

His goal, he says, is \u201cto give a good fight and make the people happy.\u201d But he\u2019s well aware that one day the fight will be out of him. He will no longer be able to throw his fists blindingly fast and slip past punches designed to knock him out.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s begged his trainer, Freddie Roach, to be honest with him and tell him if he sees him decline.<\/p>\n

And when Roach says it, Pacquiao insists he\u2019ll quit. Roach is more than just a trainer to him. He is a friend, a father, a brother, a confidant and Pacquiao trusts him to advise him properly on the hardest decision facing any boxer.<\/p>\n

And when that time comes, Pacquiao will leave the game with no regrets, proud of his accomplishments and hopeful he\u2019ll be able to continue to serve others.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I decide to retire from boxing, I have to understand that things will pass,\u201d he said. \u201cTime will pass. I\u2019m not young any more. I am happy and satisfied with what I have done in boxing. It\u2019s good that I\u2019m part of the history of boxing and I contributed to the record of boxing.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s contributed mightily to boxing. But he\u2019s contributed far more to the world. And when he\u2019s gone, it\u2019s going to be the simple grace, humility and style with which he\u2019s always carried himself that people will remember.<\/p>\n

He and Mayweather are each great boxers. That, however, is where the similarities between them end.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

See original article:
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LAS VEGAS \u2013 Eight months after Floyd Mayweather Jr. broadsided him with a vile, racist, homophobic attack, Manny Pacquiao had the means, the motive and the opportunity on Tuesday to return the favor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-417400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nMayweather fight or no, Pacman's place is secure (Yahoo! 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