EDITORIAL - Why Mayweather-Pacquiao should happen

Most Philippine newspapers bannered a possible Floyd Mayweather Jr. - Manny Pacquiao fight on May 2, 2015. Those who did not banner it at least had it on page one. That is how highly anticipated that fight is. Even if the basis for the story was just a suggestion by Mayweather that a fight with Pacquiao should happen on May 2 and spiced by a terse response from Pacquiao to get it on, editors everywhere realized it was a story that sells newspapers.

Outside the Philippines, interest in the fight stems largely from the fact that it is the last remaining logical fight that has yet to happen. Reason aside, it is the only fight left that is interesting enough to keep boxing fans everywhere glued to their beloved sport. Mayweather and Pacquiao are the last two great marquee fighters in the world today.

Any fight that will feature either of them will continue to sell. But unless somebody else comes along to pump more energy into the sport, fans worldwide are increasingly getting scared that the day is not far when either Mayweather or Pacquiao or both will simply age themselves toward retirement without ever tangling with each other to settle once and for all who is the best in this apparently dying sport.

It is every promoter's dream to stage this one last great fight for boxing, this one last truly bankable bout that has caught the interest of even people who know absolutely nothing about the sport other than that it entices them to take part in something that everybody else is so excited about. Now that Mayweather has provided an opening, with Pacquiao more than willing to take the opening, both fighters should do everything to finally make the fight happen.

All considerations aside - money, record, fame - both fighters should understand that as boxers, and not just ordinary boxers but the last of the truly great ones, they owe it to the sport that made them so rich and so famous to stage the one fight that matters. Having said boxing is a dying sport, we do not really mean it will die if the fight does not happen. But without the fight, it will hasten the demise of a sport slowly choking from a lack of fresh air to breathe.

This is not intended to demean and disrespect the many fine talents that are in the sport today. But sport in this modern age is no longer just a display of physical prowess in some packed arena. Sport has invaded the world of showbiz and entertainment. That Las Vegas and HBO are now closely associated with boxing only shows the extent of such transformation. Hence, pure skill alone cannot make up for the high cost of production. One must hit it off with the fans.

As an example, many of the fans of Pacquiao are women. Others do not even know how a round is scored. Still others love Pacquiao because they hate Mayweather. Yet these are the ones who take out PPV or who fill the venues showing his fights, paying good money to help fuel the economy. Others actually follow Pacquiao anywhere in the world to watch his fights live. Nobody has that drawing power anymore. The fight must happen. For boxing, for the fans. Before they are orphaned.