Filed under: WBA, WBC, WBO, Golden Boy Promotions, Boxing Rumors, HBO, Showtime, FanHouse Exclusive, Top Rank Promotions
While watching Manny Pacquiao dominate Antonio Margarito during Saturday night's HBO pay-per-view televised clash at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, many African-American boxers and fight fans wondered when they would see the Filipino superstar challenge Floyd Mayweather "or any other top notch black fighter."At least, that's what one of boxing's elder statesmen, Bernard Hopkins, believes.
"Maybe I'm biased because I'm black, but I think that this is what is said at people's homes and around the dinner table among black boxing fans and fighters. Most of them won't say it [in public] because they're not being real and they don't have the balls to say it," said Hopkins, a 45-year-old future Hall of Famer and a multi-division champion.
"But I do think that a fighter like the Ray Leonards or anyone like that would beat a guy [like Pacquiao] if they come with their game," said Hopkins (51-5-1, 32 knockouts), who will challenge WBC light heavyweight king Jean Pascal (26-1, 16 KOs) on Dec. 18 on Showtime.
"Listen, this ain't a racial thing, but then again, maybe it is," said Hopkins. "But the style that is embedded in most of us black fighters, that style could be a problem to any other style of fighting."
Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 KOs) earned the WBC's vacant junior middleweight (154 pounds) belt, his eighth crown over as many weight classes, with Saturday night's unanimous decision over the Mexican-born Margarito (38-7, 27 KOs) at Cowboys Stadium.
Already the WBO welterweight (147 pounds) champion, Pacquiao won for the 13th straight time, including eight knockouts during that run. Nicknamed "The Mexicutioner," Pacquiao's triumph over Margarito continued his dominance over Mexican fighters, against whom he is 11-0-1, with seven knockouts during his winning streak.
Speaking for Pacquaio, the fighter's adviser, Michael Koncz, said that "Manny has nothing left to prove to anybody."
"I would say to hell with all of those guys who are talking," said Koncz. "Manny has done more than anybody in boxing than anybody has ever imagined. He has the right to select his opponents. These black fighters, you know, we're not prejudiced. We don't care if they're black, green or blue.
"All that we care about is what fighter has a following. When these fighters that are crying about fighting Manny develop a following, and can prove to us, statistically, that it's economically feasible, then we will have no problem fighting them. But until then, they can cry all that they want."
But Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports wrote recently, that "Pacquiao still has [yet] to face the ultimate test -- the fast, speedy, in-his-prime opponent that a [Floyd] Mayweather would be."
A fighter such as Sugar Ray Leonard, Iole contends, "represents the kind of fighter Pacquiao has yet to face: A big guy with tremendous speed and quickness as well as punching power, defensive skill and a quality chin."
"That's why Floyd Mayweather would beat Manny Pacquiao because the styles that African American fighters -- and I mean, black fighters from the streets or the inner cities -- would be successful," said Hopkins. "I think Floyd Mayweather would pot-shot Pacquiao and bust him up in between the four-to-five punches that Pacquiao throws and then set him up later on down the line."
But negotiations to make a bout between Mayweather (40-0, 25 knockouts) and Pacquiao have twice fallen apart, even as Koncz said that Pacquiao still very much wants that fight.
Source: http://boxing.fanhouse.com/2010/11/17/will-manny-pacquiao-fight-a-top-african-american/
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