Forget fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. — Pacquiao

By JO ERLINDA G. NEBRES

MANILA (PinoyNews)  – Let’s forget the much talked about supposedly dream fight between Filipino boxing great Manny Pacquiao and world icon Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Eight-division champion and former pound-for-pound king Pacquiao seemed to be resigned to the seemingly impossibility of a confrontation with the undefeated American champion as indicated in his statement before a group of athletes and sports writers in Manila.
This as the influential sports publication Ring Magazine, considered  the Bible of Boxing, declared Pacquiao still a major force to reckon with in boxing in an article in its February issue written by editor Michael Rosenthal.
Rosenthal said he believes the fighting congressman from Sarangani is “far from being damaged goods” as he proved in the impressive battering of Brandon Rios in his comeback to the ring in Macau last December.
 Rosenthal stated in his article that Pacquiao’s win over Rios in Macau last year only proved that the Filipino icon remains a force to be reckoned with.
The Ring Magazine editor, in his article titled ‘Prematurely Dismissed’ declarred that he was utterly impressed with Pacquiao’s resounding victory since he was coming off what many described as a career-ending knockout defeat to Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012.
This developed as undefeated Cuban boxer Yuriorkis Gamboa has been added to the list of Pacquiao’s potential opponents for his April 12 fight date in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Filipino champion’s Canadian adviser, Michael Koncz, made the revelation to sports authority Ronnie Nathanielsz of Boxing Scene and Manila Standard Today.
Gamboa, 32,  is an Olympic gold medalist who holds the World Boxing Association (WBA) super featherweight title. He has won all his 23 professional fights.
Aside from Gamboa, unbeaten American Timothy Bradley Jr., and Russian brawler Ruslan Provodnikov are also in the running for the Pacquiao fight.
Pacquiao had expressed his preference for a rematch with Bradley who defeated him in a controversial fight in Las Vegas. The decision in that fight was questioned by many and triggered an investigation by the Nevada Boxing Commission .
At the SCOOP sa Kamayan on Air, Pacquiao bewailed the many conditions being imposed by American champion Mayweather every time their proposed dream fight is discussed.
Pacquiao lamented that because of his indecisions and many conditions to the fight, Mayweather maybe missing a chance of making boxing history by slugging it out with him.
The Mayweather-Pacquiao fight would be the richest fight in boxing history if that happens. Earlier reports indicated that both fighters have been offered a guarranted prize money of $50 million each, the highest in the history of the sports.
The fighting congressman revealed his thoughts on the supposedly dream fight during the SCOOP on Air which was reported by top network ABS-CBN on its website even as starts getting ready for a trip to the United States this month to sign up and promote his next fight, take care of his tax case with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and take a short vacation supposedly with family.
  “He’s been asking for so many conditions, which we have expressed intentions to abide by like drug testing, purse split and everything,” said Pacquiao at the interview.
. “Now he wants me to separate myself from my promoter, which I cannot possibly do without violating my contract,” Pacquiao was quoted as saying by Philboxing and ABS-CBN.
Mayweather earlier said in an interview with boxing website Fight Hype that a mega-fight against Pacquiao will never happen for as long as Pacquiao fights under Top Rank Promotions and Bob Arum.

Other conditions earlier imposed by Mayweather were on-the-spot drug tests, and bigger share for him in the fight, to which the Filipino fighter has agreed just to let the fight happen.
“Habang tumatagal, nagiging lalong imposible ang hinihingi niya (In the long run, his conditions become impossible)” Pacquiao said, referring Mayweather.
“Ayaw talaga eh. Wala na tayo sigurong magagawa (He doesn’t want to fight. We can’t do anything),” he said. “Kalimutan na muna natin ‘yan… Kaya nga ako, kalimutan ko muna at magco-concentrate sa nalalapit na laban ko, which, in fact, has not yet been finalized (Let’s forget about it. I forget about it and concentrate with my upcoming fight which is yet to be finalized).”
The Ring Magazine has declared the Pacquiao-Rios fight as Fight for the Month of December, according to its editor Rosenthal. 
In his article in the magazine, Rosenthal also said that despite his age, Pacquiao (who was almost 35 when he beat Rios)  the fighting congressman “still has a lot of gas left in the tank.”
“He might be a tad slower than he once was and perhaps a bit less dynamic, but he is still better than almost anyone else.”
For emerging victorious against the limited but dangerous Rios, Pacquiao earned the vote of The Ring as its recipient of the Fighter of the Month.
Rosenthal likewise penned a separate story and he showered Pacquiao with praises.
“The eight-division titleholder demonstrated that he can still dominate a good opponent, looking very much like the dynamo who became a superstar in the last decade even if he has slipped just a bit,” he wrote
“In the end it was an excellent performance that confirmed Pacquiao still has the ability to fight at a very high level,” said Rosenthal.