Pete's Ponderings Feb 4

When negotiations for the Manny Pacquiao – Floyd Mayweather fight fell through and Pacquiao’s team announced his fight with former welterweight titlist Joshua Clottey, it was widely assumed that Mayweather had few options.

At the time, top welterweight Shane Mosley was scheduled for a unification bout with fellow titleholder Andre Berto tying both of them up. Miguel Cotto was left out of the conversation probably because of the beating he had just taken at the hands of Pacquiao. Clottey was already fighting Pacman. There just didn’t seem to be many options left for Floyd.

If you recall, the top names mentioned for a potential major payday with Mayweather were former welterweight beltholder Kermit Cintron, former unified lightweight titlist Nate Campbell and former junior welterweight titleholder Paulie Malignaggi. Cintron probably represented the best of that list for Mayweather because he was a full fledged welterweight, but probably lacked the skills to competitive for too long against someone of the caliber of Mayweather. Campbell and Malignaggi would have been awful choices from a PR standpoint for Mayweather as they would have reinforced the notion that some fight fans have that Floyd only wants to fight smaller men.

Then tragedy set in. The country of Haiti was ravaged with devastating earthquakes sending that nation in shambles. A horrifying situation for anyone with a heart watching the devastation unfold on the news, but more terrifying for someone like Andre Berto, a former representative of Haiti in the Olympics, who understandably pulled out of his showdown with Mosley. Could anyone truly expect him to concentrate on a prizefight in America when he has family in Haiti whose livelihood is uncertain?

Like many bad situations, this opened up opportunity for others. Truth be told, no one would know who Tom Brady is in the NFL is Drew Bledsoe hadn’t been injured with internal bleeding on the football field in 2001 allowing Brady his chance to play. I know that’s an incredibly light example, but I think you get the point.

Mayweather was already without a dance partner. Mosley was now too. Together, they’ll now fight May 1st in Las Vegas in a welterweight megafight. So while Pacquiao fights a guy who is coming off a loss to a guy he just destroyed (Clottey lost a decision to Cotto in his most recent bout), Mayweather will now fight a man some rank the #1 welterweight in the world in a fight boxing fans have wanted to see for a decade.

As it turns out, Mayweather wins a point this time around in his duel with Pacquiao outside the ring.

More Ponderings:

Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc., the promoter of the Pacquiao – Clottey bout, have announced that they’ll be donating $1 for every $10 on ticket sales from fights they promote this year to Haitian Relief. It’s my hope that Golden Boy Promotions, the other major promoter in boxing and organizers of Mosley – Mayweather, follow suit and do something similar. It would only seem right considering the fallout of Mosley – Berto.

That’s not to suggest in the least that Golden Boy Promotions are not charitable people. Company President Oscar De La Hoya as a high school named after him and a cancer treatment center in his mothers honor named after him in California. Why? Because he’s been incredibly generous with his checkbook donating to causes involving education and cancer research.

For all Floyd Mayweather’s bragging out money, he’s also been quite giving with his cash. He regularly goes out off the strip in his hometown of Las Vegas and feeds the homeless and donates turkey dinners to families in need in his childhood hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan every Thanksgiving. And no, neither of those are publicity stunts designed for HBO’s 24/7. They’re both very real.

Kelly Pavlik vs. Sergio Martinez sounds like a pretty darn good fight to me.

Didn’t those fight fans in Reno on the Jesse Brinkley – Curtis Stevens fight rock? Say what you will about Brinkley, but he inspires tons of passion in his fans which translated into a great atmosphere for boxing to be presented in on TV.

Am I crazy or is it possible that Jason Estrada can outbox Tomasz Adamek this weekend? Styles make fights and I think the quick handed Jason Estrada presents a tricky puzzle for Adamek to figure out over 12 rounds. Plus, Can Adamek really carry his power up to heavyweight against an opponent who’s actually mobile?