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Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao Meeting Does Not Change Reality

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By @paul_past

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Serial batterer of women Floyd “Money” Mayweather and Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao attended a Miami Heat game on Tuesday, Jan. 27, met face-to-face for the first time, spoke to each other, and exchanged phone numbers. The spectacle, which lasted only a few minutes, proved that there is still a significant interest in seeing the fight take place, not just among boxing fans and critics, but also among casual sports fans.

Does the fact that this physical interaction took place actually mean the two combatants are any closer to making a May 2 showdown a reality?

The simple answer is no. Not unless each fighter’s representatives — for Mayweather, Al Haymon, and for Pacquiao, Bob Arum — had orchestrated the meeting behind the scenes. Unfortunately, every credible source, from the Associated Press to the Miami Herald, has reported that didn’t happen.

What’s more, Pacquiao said he hadn’t expected to see Mayweather, and was informed just one minute before halftime that Mayweather would be coming over for a chat.

It logically follows that Pacquiao’s representatives had no prior knowledge of what ended up taking place, because Pacquiao would’ve been informed way ahead of time if they had. According to the AP, “[Pacquiao] was supposed to leave Tuesday night but said his flight was canceled — as many were in South Florida because of the crippling effects felt nationwide by the havoc a winter storm caused in the New York and Boston areas.”

Because the flight was canceled, Pacquiao decided to go to the Heat game. Mayweather, on the other hand, has regularly attended Heat games for several years, and it was only after the Heat tweeted a photo of the two fighters with the message, “Coming in 2015? We’d like to welcome @floydmayweather & @MannyPacquiao to tonight’s game!” that Mayweather approached Pacquiao during halftime.

Their verbal exchange appeared to last a minute or two at best. Pacquiao was quoted as saying, “Mayweather gave his number to me and said we will communicate with each other.”

Let’s remember that the only other time both fighters communicated with each other personally, Mayweather offered Pacquiao $40 million with no pay-per-view upside, which was essentially a complete slap in the face, regardless of whether Pacquiao represents the B-side from a financial point of view.

Yet the reception of last night’s spectacle will have us believe that a quick verbal exchange between the two fighters was meaningful, and that Mayweather, boxing’s biggest control freak, will somehow negotiate with Pacquiao within the parameters of reason.

None of this is true, of course. And I’m not blaming anyone for suspending reason in order to imagine, for a moment, what it might’ve been like to see boxing’s two greatest stars align inside that squared circle.

But that moment has passed; such is the nature of any spectacle, especially in boxing, which remains the world’s grandest theatre for the absurd.

Paul Pastorini is a Boxing Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @paul_past, find him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google.

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