Did Mayweather Approach Manny?

[XaduBoxer]

Here's an excerpt of a blogger's view of a PBF vs. PAC fight:

Biggest fight out there

So how do you make a fight that matters to the mainstream—which is what you have to do in order to sniff a million buys—without any of the superstars who have carried boxing in the pay-per-view era?

You hope that the quality of a fight, and not just the name recognition of a fighter, can sell to the general public. And then you go out and make the best fight possible.

As we enter 2009, that fight is Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao. And it has something going for it that quite a few other million-buy boxing events didn’t: It’s a matchup that requires absolutely no defending.

De La Hoya vs. Pacquiao, the biggest seller of 2008, had to be defended against criticism that it was a size mismatch (which was proven untrue).

De La Hoya vs. Mayweather, the biggest seller ever, had to be defended against criticism that it was more business transaction than actual fight and a hyped-up probable bore (which was proven mostly true).

The first Tyson-Holyfield fight had to be defended against criticism that Holyfield was washed up and had no chance (which was proven untrue).

Lennox Lewis vs. Tyson had to be defended against criticism that Tyson was washed-up and had no chance (which was proven mostly true).

Mayweather-Pacquiao simply can not be criticized. Both fighters are in their primes. If we consider the temporarily retired Mayweather an active fighter and rank him pound-for-pound, this fight gives us, in whichever order you prefer, the No. 1 and No. 2 fighters on the planet. Nobody can call the fight a mismatch; rather, it will engender wild, passionate, intelligent and equally divided debate over who will have the edge in the ring.

The true fight fans’ fight, the one that can realistically sell a million PPVs in the U.S., maybe even 1.25-million like Pacquiao-De La Hoya did, is Mayweather vs. Pacquiao for the undisputed pound-for-pound crown.

Can you do those kinds of numbers without De La Hoya? It depends how much of De La Hoya’s glow was absorbed by the last two men to beat him. Just by fighting De La Hoya, by sharing a “24/7” buildup with him, by having their faces on billboards next to his, Mayweather and Pacquiao went from names only fight fans knew to names recognizable to the “SportsCenter” crowd.

And, again, they didn’t merely fight De La Hoya. They both beat De La Hoya. A win over De La Hoya can potentially be the springboard to the “A”-list, and pairing two fighters on the verge of that status may prove to be a winning formula. At the least, it’s the best formula there is in the post-Oscar-Tyson-Holyfield era that we’re entering.

“I absolutely think that Mayweather-Pacquiao is the biggest United States domestic pay-per-view seller in boxing today, without question,” Mayo opined. “Mayweather-Pacquiao is a fight fan’s fight. It’s not a glitterati fight. There’d be great appeal and I think the fight would do well. It’s the best fight that could be made in boxing today.

“But as for whether it’s a big record-breaker, I don’t necessarily see that.”

In other words, even though it’s a more appealing fight all-around than Pacquiao vs. De La Hoya, Pacquiao vs. Mayweather would be hard-pressed, especially in the current economy, to reach the 1.25-million buys that 2008’s top-selling fight garnered. The challenge of selling a non-heavyweight fight to the masses without De La Hoya is a stern one.

Unless the masses deserve more credit than we’re giving them.

This is boxing’s equivalent to Kobe vs. LeBron one-on-one. It tells us who is the very best in the world.

And maybe a fight like that, where every ounce of hype is accompanied by a pound of substance, could be just the kind of event that the mainstream has actually been waiting for.

[rjj tszyu]

Maybe! Mayweather APPARENTLY needs the money now and if Hatton beats him first it would be a huge payday out of the window for Floyd as Hatton wouldn't bring the same money again because Floyds already beat him convincingly once!