I'm neither a fan of Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather Jr.

 

Most boxing fans, especially "media" members of today are either riding one side of the fence or the other.

 

In fact, I'm not particularly a fan of any fighter in boxing right now. I'm merely a supporter of the sport in totality and a fanatic of good, crowd-pleasing fights which are relatively far and few between in this current era of the sweet science.

 

The back-lash of Floyd Mayweather Jr. deciding to pass on a 2010 date with the "Pacman" will continue for quite some time. He's been labeled as a coward by ESPN, a ducker by numerous boxing scribes, and even worse by the thousands if not millions of anonymous boxing fans online. It will undoubtedly continue both online and offline until the moment the initial bell rings for a clash between the two pound-for-pound candidates.

 

So now the question I pose is... is it fair for the boxing media to aggressively attempt to bury Floyd Mayweather Jr.?

 

Following the fall out of the first negotiation go-around between Pacquiao and Mayweather this past January, the rumored opponents for a Mayweather fight were the less than deserving names of Nate Campbell, Paulie Malignaggi, and Matthew Hatton. Boxing fans grew incensed at the simple proposition of stating a bout between Floyd and any of those proposed opponents. Most of the media called for Floyd's head should he choose to avoid fighting the recently available Shane Mosley deeming "Sugar" as by far the top 147 pounder in the world.

 

The majority of boxing fans didn't think that Mayweather would have the "cojones" to lace them up against the much "media-hyped" Mosley.

 

The Las Vegas-native would not only go on to fight Shane but would do it in a dominant fashion that impressed even his harshest long-time critics.

 

The fans & media assumed that the next logical step in the career of both Floyd and Manny would be to proceed with a Fall showdown guaranteeing both fighters career-high paydays and possibly lead to the biggest Pay-Per-View fight in the history of the sport.

 

With HBO's Ross Greenburg now acting as the messenger in order to ensure that that discussions were taking place to solidify this mega-fight, hopes were very high that this bout would somehow come to fruition.

 

Alas it all ended up falling apart once again and the boxing fans have Pacquiao-Margarito and possibly Mayweather taking the rest of 2010 off to look forward to.

 

Boxing has no season and it continues year around as fighters deem it necessary to garner paychecks and solidify their legacies.

 

There's nothing contractually stating that Floyd Mayweather Jr. must fight in 2010, 2011, or anytime going forward. If "Money" doesn't fight, he doesn't get paid... plain and very simple.

 

For those of you that don't remember, Mayweather turned down a huge payday for a rematch against Oscar De la Hoya in 2008 and ended up "retiring" in the process. If Floyd can walk away from an 8-figure payday against the "Golden Boy" several years back, is it that surprising that he has chosen to currently walk away from an 8-figure payday against Manny Pacquiao today?

 

So back to the initial question... is it fair for the boxing media to aggressive attempt to bury Floyd Mayweather Jr.?

 

Unequivocally... YES!

It's part of the game.

 

There are consequences for one's actions and this is just a small part of the repercussions for doing so.

 

Boxing and those that facilitate Mayweather's boxing career outside of anything involving Manny Pacquiao will undoubtedly eat these same repercussions. 

 

Unfortunately Pacquiao-Mayweather was a fight that became bigger than the sport. There is just no denying it.

 

Boxing has only itself to blame for allowing this to happen all the while finding no way to contractually force it to happen. 

 

Alot of the blame for this must fall on the hands of HBO's Ross Greenburg as there was a certain, sickening gleam in his eye when Floyd Mayweather Jr. would announce his "comeback" fight against Juan Manuel Marquez. It was very strange to see the head of HBO Sports apparently giddy with joy that a "hustler" would come back to boxing to rob the sport due to his own financial crisis. It was completely evident that perhaps Mayweather no longer had the same drive and desire to cement his legacy as one of the greatest fighters of our era.

 

It was completely evident that through no fault of his own, Mayweather viewed boxing as a "hustle" and as a way to steal some easy cash. I don't blame Floyd as he was forced into boxing by his family at a young age and has dealt with the politics of the sport virtually his entire life.

 

I blame HBO by facilitiating the hustler to hustle.

 

They should have known better being in the boxing game for decades upon decades.

 

While Mayweather will receive the fire and wrath from the fans & media for passing on the Pacquiao fight, the real culprit in this whole fiasco is the facilitator of it's inception.

 

What a bunch of shit...

 

End of story.