StevieB
11-15-2009, 07:29 AM
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Manny Pacquiao made history last night by winning a title in a record seventh weight division. From the offset Miguel Cotto was outclassed, and was eventually stopped in the 12th round.
Amid the celebrations after the fight fans in the MGM could be heard chanting 'we want Floyd!''. Referring to Floyd Mayweather Jr, the other man with a claim to the pound for pound top ranking.
More than that though, Mayweather is a media beacon, and a fight between the two greats would sell itself. Mayweather and Pacquiao are respectively now the biggest and second biggest box office draws in boxing. A fight between the two will probably break previous box office records, and will further elevate the winner in the history books.
In the eyes of most people Pacquiao dominating Cotto is enough to lift him clearly to the top of the list. Mayweather himself will probably be quick to dismiss the win of course, but the only way of proving this either way is for the two to meet in the ring. Certainly beating a once defeated and physically larger Cotto is more impressive to my mind than battering a much smaller Marquez, who Pacquiao has beaten before anyway.
Asked about a potential next match after the victory Freddie Roach said: “I want to see him fight Mayweather,”. Despite interest from both parties however, the fight will almost certainly be very difficult to make, not least because of the conflicting promoters that represent the two.
Another potential problem will be what the split will be for the fight purses, with both fighters probably insisting that they want more than 50%. A more sensible way that someone suggested to me would be to set the split at 40% each with the winner taking the remaining 20%. This would still be a lot of money for both parties given the size and scale of the fight, and the loser would still take a huge purse.
Manny Pacquiao made history last night by winning a title in a record seventh weight division. From the offset Miguel Cotto was outclassed, and was eventually stopped in the 12th round.
Amid the celebrations after the fight fans in the MGM could be heard chanting 'we want Floyd!''. Referring to Floyd Mayweather Jr, the other man with a claim to the pound for pound top ranking.
More than that though, Mayweather is a media beacon, and a fight between the two greats would sell itself. Mayweather and Pacquiao are respectively now the biggest and second biggest box office draws in boxing. A fight between the two will probably break previous box office records, and will further elevate the winner in the history books.
In the eyes of most people Pacquiao dominating Cotto is enough to lift him clearly to the top of the list. Mayweather himself will probably be quick to dismiss the win of course, but the only way of proving this either way is for the two to meet in the ring. Certainly beating a once defeated and physically larger Cotto is more impressive to my mind than battering a much smaller Marquez, who Pacquiao has beaten before anyway.
Asked about a potential next match after the victory Freddie Roach said: “I want to see him fight Mayweather,”. Despite interest from both parties however, the fight will almost certainly be very difficult to make, not least because of the conflicting promoters that represent the two.
Another potential problem will be what the split will be for the fight purses, with both fighters probably insisting that they want more than 50%. A more sensible way that someone suggested to me would be to set the split at 40% each with the winner taking the remaining 20%. This would still be a lot of money for both parties given the size and scale of the fight, and the loser would still take a huge purse.