EDITORIAL - There is no dream match

Following Manny Pacquiao’s historic win over Miguel Cotto, people all over are beginning to talk of a “dream match” between the Filipino and Floyd Mayweather Jr., the American loudmouth who remains the only boxer of note on the horizon that Pacquiao has not fought.

But there is no such thing as a dream match in the sense that the sport of boxing does not revolve perpetually around Pacquiao, or Mayweather, for that matter. Boxing is a sport that, like other showcases of physical prowess, will outlive the great examples of particular times.

Every generation will have its great boxers and heroes, and these great boxers and heroes will provide the sport with its memorable fights. But there will never be any true dream fight, because to talk of a fight in that sense is to talk of a fight that ends all fights.

A “dream fight” is the mother of all fights, and there is just no saying that Pacquiao vs. Mayweather is that one ultimate fight. It will be a great match, and a very rich one too. But future generations will have their own turn at greatness, for their own heroes and heels.

Indeed there is no absolute necessity for Pacquiao to even meet Mayweather. Pacquiao and what he has already achieved, for himself, his country and for the sport of boxing, have become indelible snatches in this incredible saga called human history.

Fighting or not fighting Mayweather will neither diminish nor embellish in a significant way the place that Pacquiao already occupies in history. In fact, weeks before the Cotto fight, and without any regard if he eventually fights Mayweather, Time placed Pacquiao on its cover.

If such an honor suggests anything, it is that in the eyes of the venerable magazine, the Filipino boxing icon has already assured for himself his own impregnable place in history. There is nothing to prove anymore.

All that remains, perhaps, is the opportunity to earn even vaster amounts of money. And that is something only Pacquiao and those who surround him will have to decide for themselves. So let’s not talk of dream matches for there are none, nor of great fights for there have been many.

Winning over Mayweather will not make Pacquiao greater than he already is. On the other hand, losing to him will not negate the great wins he has already racked up. If you want to talk of Mayweather, let it be talk that is simply all about money, for that is what it is.