Floyd Mayweather Coward Or Cautious?
By a show of hands, how many of you out there would pass up $50 million? Yeah, I didn’t think so. So why aren’t more people shocked that Floyd “Money” Mayweather isn’t in any rush to sign a deal to face Pacquiao? Maybe because it comes as no surprise that Mayweather is afraid to face him.
A fight between these two would be disappointing if it ended it a decision. Pacquiao knows this, and he also knows that in order to be considered the pound for pound champion and one of the best in history, he’ll have to knock out Mayweather. On the other side of the coin, Mayweather hasn’t won a fight via knockout since 2008 when he beat Ricky Hatton who was already past his prime.
Why anyone would leave $50 million on the table is beyond me. While I don’t think that Mayweather is afraid of fighting, I do believe he’s afraid of losing. According to boxing historian Bert Sugar, Mayweather’s camp believes his legacy is tied to being undefeated. This notion makes no sense to me because Mohammed Ali is the greatest boxer of all time and having 5 losses doesn’t tarnish his career in any way.
ESPN Calling Mayweather A Coward
Mayweather set himself up for this sort of backlash. He set the parameters for the fight. He set the bar. He wanted extensive, Olympic style drug testing and now that Pacquaio has agreed to the testing and a split of the earnings, why is the fight still in doubt? Every generation has a megafight where people can say they remember where they were for that fight. This was supposed to be our Ali-Liston/Foreman/Frazier, our Joe Louis-Rocky Marciano. Its a shame that fear could get in the way of that.
