You hear kids do this all the time. They pick a sports hero then play a game.
In basketball it’s MVP Stephen Curry vs LeBron. In football it’s Marcus Mariota vs Cam Newton.
Who are the names when it comes to boxing? Which greats hear their name called?
It felt like Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao played the game in their Fight of the Century.
The two welterweights went big for their requests.
Floyd impersonated Ken Norton with his foot in the grave stalking style.
Manny chose Smoking Joe Frazier’s bob and weave style.
Who should you always pick when choosing a fighter to play act?
The Greatest is called The Greatest, even if it’s self-gloss, for a reason. And it goes beyond greatness.
But first the fight.
It’s been called a square dance, a hugging contest, and a farce. Call it what it was, the sort of payday mixed martial arts, MMA, dreams of.
Whether you like the idea of two guy weighing one forty five each in the Fight of the Century, or not, they got it done.
Call it a dance, but the blows that landed would get you thrown out of the barn. Call it hugging and laugh until you learn about Manny’s shoulder injury.
His shoulder got pulled, punched, and yanked hard enough to make Kevin Love flinch and run for the dressing room.
Was it a boring fight? Sure, and so was New York Yankees pitcher Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series. Everyone expects bombs to launch instead of tactical genius.
An old sports saw explains it like this: Winners do what losers won’t do.
Floyd and Manny fought to win. It wasn’t pretty, but you’ve got to respect the effort.
There’s Floyd in his Ken Norton ring demeanor, dragging a leg behind him while showing his right hand cocked and ready to punch.
When he threw his right and landed, it shook Manny’s face and shoulder. Showing it behind his jab was supposed to strike fear and it looked scary. He just didn’t use it enough.
Pacquiao’s lateral movement and punches coming in flurries weren’t enough to quiet the Mayweather right.
Instead of a decisive win by knockout, Floyd and Manny ended with a unanimous decision. Fans had a unanimous decision also: Boo.
Did one fighter drive the other through the ropes in the fourteenth round like Sugar Ray Leonard did to Thomas Hearns?
Where was the frustrated fighter quitting because he couldn’t find the other guy like Roberto Duran’s famous “No mas” to Sugar Ray?
Anyone expecting the sweet science to get brutal the way Muhammad Ali pounded Floyd Patterson and Ernie Terrell for calling him Cassius Clay came away disappointed.
Floyd and Manny ended at the final bell. No one had their retina detached, jaw broken, or lost a gallon of blood. Neither went to a hospital, had a near death experience, or changed religion. Most important, no one chewed the other’s ear off and spit it at them like Tyson and Holyfield.
All they did was stage a fight five years too late. Who really needs to see small men in their late and mid-thirties fight by the book? Apparently enough fans to make their fight a huge payday.
What was missing? A complete and thorough beating by one, or both, fighters.
We want to see an example of one fighter proving he can take the others best shot, then deliver one the other can’t take.
We want to see one fighter deliver a complete and thorough beat down.
Instead we get caution. We get tactics. We get a hidden injury from Manny. We get a dose of what Mayweather’s been dolling out. He’s been a bad man for years, but now he’s all bank and he can return to the rock he crawled out from.
Now the question for boxing is, what’s next? It won’t be the Klitschko brothers, two heavyweights who’ve ruled the division for a decade. Some say ruined the division for a decade.
How appealing is a fighter who never fights in America? One of the Klitschkos had a title fight in Madison Square Garden last month. Anyone see it?
The two brothers each held part of the heavyweight title but wouldn’t fight each other. Why? Because they promised their mom they’d never fight. The one heavyweight fight worth watching will never happen?
One thing boxing doesn’t need is a momma’s boy. It doesn’t need a Floyd and Manny rematch either.
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