SPORTS SHORTS 122: FLOYD MAYWEATHER SAYS MANNY PACQUIAO IS THE BEST FIGHTER HE FOUGHT, JOEL DIAZ WARNS PACMAN THAT GARCIA AND SPENCE WILL HURT HIM
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 04 May 2021
The former pound-for-pound king Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. recently announced his exhibition fight with YouTube sensation Logan Paul will push through. The exuberant undefeated fighter announced that he would be doing more exhibition bouts rather than fighting a big name real competitor in boxing.
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Last year, it was announced that Mayweather would fight Paul in an exhibition bout on February 20, 2021. The fight was postponed to June 6 at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. Paul fought KSI to a majority draw in an amateur boxing match. During their professional boxing rematch, KSI defeated Paul by majority decision.
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The former five-division world champion wanted to retire from his boxing career with no health issues. Mayweather had repeatedly declared that his health is his top priority and he would not risk his health in exchange with any amount of money.
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Mayweather is unique among most fighters since he could choose his opponent and would always have the advantage in negotiating for the big slice of the purse and revenue.
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In The Million Dollaz Worth of Game show, Mayweather answered the question on who was his roughest and toughest opponent. He acknowledged his arch rival Manny Pacquiao as the best fighter he has ever fought in his boxing career.
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“The best fighter I ever fought probably was Manny Pacquiao,” Mayweather told host Gillie Da King as quoted by Now Boxing. “It’s because of his movement. He’s a hell of a fighter and I can see why he won so many fights and I can see why he’s going down as a hall of famer. It’s just certain moves that he makes."
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Mayweather also identified Emmanuel Augustus also known as "The Drunken Master" from Brownsville, Texas as his roughest, toughest foe. He fought Augustus whom he stopped via 9th round TKO on October 21, 2000 at the Cobo Hall, Detroit, Michigan.
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He also said Miguel Cotto was the strongest of his opponents. He defeated the American-born Puerto Rican on May 5, 2012 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada, to win the WBA (Super) light middleweight title.
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“The roughest fighter probably was a guy named Emmanuel Augustus. The drunken master was tough. He was just tough. Miguel Cotto was very, very, physically strong. You got different fighters. Different days you feel different ways. Some days you can go over there and you may not feel that good, but you go over there and look superb."
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Mayweather last fought UCF MMA star Conor McGregor winning his 50th professional fight. He divulged why he would not make a ring comeback to fight in a real professional match against a top welterweight contender.
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“It’s crazy everybody keeps asking me, why you not coming back to fight?” said Mayweather. “So I look at the fight game and say okay, fighters fight and they make 3 million, 4 million, 6 million, 7 million, some may even make 10 to 20 million."
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"But I’m doing exhibitions and I’m making 20, 25, 100 million for exhibitions. So why would I comeback to fight and get a guarantee of 35 million when I’m doing exhibitions and getting a 100 million," continued Mayweather.
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Mayweather is expected to earn more money fighting YouTube star Logan Paul in an exhibition match and avoid the risk of losing his undefeated record in professional boxing and evade health dangers.
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Trainer Joel Diaz was with Timothy Bradley twice and with Lucas Matthysse once when they fought Pacquiao. He told ESNEWS that he does not support the idea that an old Manny Pacquiao will face young opponents and hopes he hangs up his gloves for good because he has nothing more to prove.
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“He has nothing else to prove anymore,” Diaz told ESNEWS. “All Pacquiao will do facing these young, strong fighters is jeopardize his health. He is already old and honestly he has nothing else to prove. He’s already one of the best fighters in the world. He already made his career. I mean he already became a world champion in 8 divisions."
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Diaz discourages Pacquiao to serve as a springboard for younger fighters, and would like him to imitate Floyd Mayweather who engaged himself in exhibition fights against social media stars and reap handsome earnings.
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“He shouldn’t give these young fighters the privilege of putting him on their record and jeopardize his health. He should just be smart and like Mayweather is doing and generate money putting on exhibitions with a YouTuber and just retire," said Diaz.
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Diaz said he likes Pacquiao and does not want him to fight these younger opponents. "I like Manny Pacquiao. One of the best fighters with much respect, but as a person, as a coach, or a friend or whatever, he shouldn’t be fighting anymore against these strong, young fighters coming up," added Diaz.
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Errol Spence Jr. and Mikey Garcia are being rumored to be the next possible Pacquiao opponents, but Diaz thinks it will be very dangerous for the senator and both boxers will injure him.
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“If he fights Errol Spence Jr., Errol is too strong. He’s young. He’s strong. I think he will hurt Pacquiao. If he fights Mikey Garcia, Mikey is really good and very precise with that right hand, as you can see when he fought Jessie Vargas, I think he can hurt him too," added Diaz.
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“These young legitimate fighters will hurt Manny Pacquiao, not because they are better, it’s because of the age. Manny Pacquiao is already at an age where he shouldn’t be fighting," concluded Diaz.
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Kennedy McKinney of USA won the 1988 Seoul Olympic gold medal in the bantamweight class. He became professional world champion winning the IBF super bantamweight (1992-1994) and WBO super bantamweight (1997-1997) titles.
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Ray Mercer of USA won the 1988 Seoul Olympic gold medal in the heavyweight class. He became professional world champion winning the WBO heavyweight title in 1991.
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Devin Booker topscored with 32 points for the Phoenix Suns to win 123-120 on the road against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Suns (46-18) increased their winning streak to four, now tied with the Utah Jazz for the number one spot in the Western Conference. Phoenix holds the tiebreaker over Utah.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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