Two of boxing’s most beloved figures, one a congressman fighting for a nation, while the other a showman, amassing his personal fortune; together they created the ultimate good vs evil drama. The polarizing kind that would take over the sporting world. Three million Americans were predicted to purchase the live broadcast and invite over everyone they’re close with to witness the ultimate spectacle. Las Vegas, and essentially every person standing to make a profit, saw nothing but dollar signs from the perhaps the most lucrative prizefight in the history of organized fighting.
But ultimately, no amount of greed, personal pride, or a sheer will to fight could place the 2 in a ring for 45 minutes.
This is the story of the richest prizefight in history to never happen.
The saga begins in 2001. The setting is San Francisco, California. It was the first time in nearly 40 years that professional title prizefighting would take the stage in San Francisco; and for a brief moment in time, Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao, separated officially by 8 pounds, would share the same ring. On November 10th, 2001 Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather competed on HBO under the Top Rank banner.
While Floyd Mayweather, a former bronze medalist in 1996, was already something of a big deal, Manny Pacquiao was on his way to super stardom He and Agapito Sanchez thrilled the crowd in a bloody, all-out brawl.
The two were victorious that night and would go their separate ways, on different paths, but ultimately their destination would be the same.
Five years later, Manny Pacquiao had become a sensation. He was blitzing through whoever was put in his path. The one set-back being Erik Morales. In their rematch, which Pacquiao assured he would win given he got to wear his favorite gloves, he got his revenge. But the intrigue of the fight wasn’t that Pacquiao had avenged his loss to Morales. It was a fan he had at ringside who stood on his chair when referee Kenny Bayless
stopped the fight. (Watch the bottom right corner of your screen.) That fan was Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Ten months later would be the first time any sort of fantasy match-up between the Filipino
slugger and defensive mastermind would be pondered. At the time, it seemed farfetched that the two would eventually be able to meet. It seemed as unlikely as a fight between Nonito Donaire & Danny Garcia seems. Floyd was already a welterweight weighing 147 officially, while Manny still campaigning at the 130 super featherweight limit.
We’re going to fast forward now. To 2008 specifically.
Following the retirement of Floyd Mayweather Jr, the then pay-per-view king of boxing, Oscar De La Hoya, was looking for his next opponent. While Pacquiao had the option to fight Humberto Soto at a more comfortable weight, a lucrative fight with De La Hoya was far more attractive. The only speed bump was the split. Pacquiao, at the time, demanded a 65-35 split with the Golden Boy. Oscar and Golden Boy President Richard Schaefer declined, citing Mayweather got 30 percent and they didn’t believe Manny was a bigger draw than Floyd. They eventually made an agreement and the dubbed “Dream Fight” proceeded.
Unfortunately for De La Hoya, the offensive output in the fight was even more lopsided than the purse split. Pacquiao dominated De La Hoya from start to finish and immediately following the fight, the whispers around Mayweather and Pacquiao became a mighty cry.
Comparing Mayweather and Pacquiao’s performance over De La Hoya, fans & experts wondered, argued, bickered, and everything else about how the two would do against each other.
Floyd Senior had an opinion of his own. While many fans believed the relentless Pacquiao would break down Floyd’s defensive fortress, Floyd Sr believed there was no way the Filipino could “whoop Lil’ Floyd.”
Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, stated that the Pacquiao’s commitment first and foremost was to pursue the exciting fights. Thus, old Mayweather victim Ricky Hatton would be their next target.
On May 2nd, they would get their wish. In the second round, Pacquiao would connect with a devastating left hand that would floor Hatton in brutal fashion. While Pacquiao had just scored the knockout of the decade, he had to share center stage that night.
Prior to the MGM Grand Garden Arena being filled with crazed Filipinos and British fight fanatics, Floyd Mayweather took the fight world over. Mayweather held a press conference that morning to announce that 16 months was enough of a retirement for him and he would be meeting former Pacquiao foe, Juan Manuel Marquez, in a few months time. He also had an implicit message for Pacquiao, "A big, great fighter always beats a small, good fighter."
Freddie Roach, hearing the comments was quick to respond. "Floyd is afraid of Manny. If he had waited 24 hours, we could have made a fight with him right away."
And so it began. With Pacquiao defeating 2 old Mayweather foes in brutal fashion, and Mayweather about to take on one of Pacquiao’s old foes, everything was set.
Days before Mayweather was set to take on Juan Manuel Marquez, he sat down for a lengthy interview with his trainer and Richard Schaefer. The allure of Mayweather-Pacquiao was evident as a large portion of the interview was dedicated to the discussion of the potential fight. Mayweather began by stating that Pacquiao’s success against common opponents was from weight draining and a blueprint he had created. When the subject of Marquez came up, Floyd became defensive. He asked questions to the interviewer like “Where was this guy when I was dominating in the ‘90s?” and ‘they [the fans] don’t want to see Mayweather-Marquez but it’s okay for Marquez and Pacquiao to fight. If it’s okay for Pacquiao to fight every other welterweight but then there’s a problem for Marquez to do it and both these guys are the same size. Actually Marquez is a bit bigger than Pacquiao. So I don’t really understand, like I said before, a lot of times, people speak on boxing and don’t really understand boxing or really know boxing.”
When the conversation shifted, it would ultimately find its way back to the subject of Pacquiao.
The interviewer asked Floyd about his perfect record and the importance of maintaining it for the duration of his career. Floyd’s answer included Pacquiao.
“…when Floyd Mayweather is facing these fighters today… there’s no pressure on any of these fighters because they have nothing to lose. If Marquez gets beat….they are still going to love him in this country because he had a chance to face the best. And they’ll say well you lost but you lost to the best. And that’s no difference from Pacquiao. I mean if I fought Pacquiao, if he were losing and then lost, when he goes back to his country they are still going to love him.”
The interviewer then asks Floyd if he would feel like there’s unfinished business if the fight with Pacquiao never happened?
Floyd’s answer: No. Absolutely not. I’ve done what I had to do in this sport of boxing. Whatever fight presents itself, I’m fine with that.
One month removed for Floyd’s lopsided victory of Marquez, his uncle and trainer Roger Mayweather found himself in legal trouble. An arrest warrant had been issued on allegations of battery and coercion charges following his alleged assault of female boxer Melissa St. Vil.
Later that month, just a couple weeks before facing Puerto Rican star Miguel Cotto, Pacquiao spoke very candidly regarding his future. He claimed that he didn’t think the fight with Mayweather would ever happen. In fact, he said, “I’m sure he doesn’t want to fight me.” Pacquiao raised his left hand and stated that the power in his left hand no doubt has Mayweather fearing a date with him.
He ultimately said that Floyd sees boxing as a business. That Floyd doesn’t care about entertainment value or pleasing his opponents. As long as Floyd makes money, according to Pacquiao, Floyd is happy. Pacquiao took a contrarian stance, citing that his ultimate goal was to have people be happy and entertained by a good fight.
Mayweather’s camp at this point has made it clear. Following a million buys against Marquez, he would be the one to demand the lion’s share of the prize should a fight with Pacquiao arise.
Two days after Pacquiao ravaged Miguel Cotto, Freddie Roach told ESPN.com that a fight with Mayweather had been on his mind for a long time. He praised the defensive mastermind, but given the recent performance of his pupil against Cotto, he no longer thought Mayweather could withstand the Pacquiao onslaught.
But Roach wasn’t optimistic. Floyd and his camp had already stated that they wanted 65% of the purse and Roach believed that it was simply another way of saying they don’t want the fight.
Floyd disagreed with Roach. He believed Pacquiao was one-dimensional with a solid punch. Floyd said, “"I'm in a no-win situation. If I beat Manny Pacquiao you know what they are going to say? 'You are supposed to beat him, you are Floyd Mayweather, you are the bigger man.' If I knock him out they'll say, 'You're supposed to knock him out [because] he's been knocked out before.' I'm in a no-win situation and when I beat him no one is going to be surprised because he's been beaten before. Whatever I do to Pacquiao has been done before. He's been beaten on three occasions. And if I knock him out I don't want the world shouting because he's been knocked out twice before as a flyweight in the 1990s."
Roach wasn’t convinced. He claimed that Floyd’s close call against Oscar De La Hoya and Jose Luis Castillo was enough to show Floyd wasn’t invincible. He was confident given that Jose Luis Castillo was one of the main sparring partners Pacquiao had utilized to prepare for Miguel Cotto and he confessed to Roach that Pacquiao was faster and hit harder than Mayweather.
Despite the lack of optimism from both camps, March 13th stood as the potential date of the boxing Super Bowl.
Roach had already begun plans for the next round of sparring partners and a new gameplan for a Mayweather fight.
Vegas had already begun taking bets, with Pacquiao opening as an 8-5 favorite by Station Casinos. Following several $20,000 bets, the line moved down to 7-5.
Vegas saw the potential profits from the monumental event and the promoters and networks eyes began to open to the pocket lining prospect.
Ross Greenburg, HBO Sports president, believed it was a simple negotiation. With all the money to be made, the possibility of the fight not happening would cause revolt among the American public.
Richard Schaefer shared the same sentiments. He told the LA Times, “Bob and me – how often have we failed to make a big fight?”
Arum believed that the negotiation would not hinge upon personal feelings shared between him and Mayweather. Mayweather had left Arum’s stable years earlier believing that Arum had shafted him and not given him an opportunity to be a star like he had given De La Hoya.
Ross Greenburg believed that all that was required was for both sides to sit together and work it out. He believed 50-50 would be the easiest thing. But with Pacquiao’s camp nearly driving Hatton from the table with his constant demands for more money, it seemed that greed between the 2 camps would stop the fight before it even got started.
Schaefer concluded with very wise words. “Getting them together is a mega-fight that has to be made. We’d all have to be morons to not let this happen.”
This is only chapter 1. The original draft was over 50 pages long in Microsoft Word. I'm condensing and editing a lot of it.
Please follow, subscribe, bookmark, etc. to my blog HookDreams. I'll be posting the rest of the tale there over the next days and weeks & a lot more stuff. I've taken a break from posting there to focus on the subreddit, and now that the PPV fights are over, I'll be posting a lot more there.
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