WORLD BOXING COUNCIL NEWS
February 25, 2013 – Mexico City.
From the office of WBC President Dr. José Sulaimán:
The following is one of the weekly “Hook to the Liver” columns that are published in El Universal every Sunday. From February 24, translated from Spanish:
HOOK TO THE LIVER
By José Sulaimán
Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao
I have always thought that without idols, there is no interest in boxing. They are the one who move the masses of fans, fill the newspapers pages and the TV screens. Idols are those who set trends, fight to fill the people with a passion, and produce money. The fights among two idols are great when there is not a logical favourite. When none of them can assure to raise their arms in victory and win their WBC belt.
There is one super idol who has shut all mouths of his rivals – Floyd Mayweather. He is undefeated with a sensational 43 wins, 26 of them by knockout, with 18 of them being all for the WBC with his winning five world titles in five divisions. These are WBC titles, none of cartoon. He also won the greatest one that any boxer can win: The WBC Diamond Belt.
There is one more super champion who impacted the world of boxing in every one of the countries on earth during a decade. His name is Manny Pacquiao. Manny has 54 wins, with 38 being by knockout, and he has lost five times. He is also one of the very few WBC Diamond Belt winners – two Diamonds in the ring fighting for supremacy. Both have challenged each other for years and raised a great speculation in the boxing world. However, their fight has never taken place.
Anybody can say whatever they want to say, but the fight – Floyd Mayweather, the present WBC welterweight champion, versus Manny Pacquiao – is THE ONE that the world wants to see, more than any other of the several other interesting fights that could be.
If, and only IF, Floyd Mayweather retains his title against Guerrero, tough fight, on May 4 coming, and Manny also wins his next fight in Macau against any one picked, I invite them to put their egos and stubbornness aside, put on their gloves and jump into the ring to see who is the one that stays in heaven on a higher cloud than the other, as they both already live there.
That J.M. Marquez defeated Manny for the first time in their four encounters – so what? Macho Camacho lost to Greg Haugen, but still fought against J.C. Chavez in a fight after many years of threats among them, in the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, packed to the roof, and broke TV records in Mexico and Puerto Rico. After Hauguen lost to Camacho in their rematch, he came to Mexico to fight J.C. Chavez to break the 300 year record of a live gate for a boxing match with 136,274 fans at the Aztec Stadium, breaking the Guinness record, perhaps forever.
What about Ali and Frazier, eternal enemies who filled the Madison Square Garden in New York with fans even up on the lamps!!! What about Leonard and Duran in a Stadium full to capacity in Montreal, Canada ? Those four would have thrown stones at each other, and were media delights with so many verbal wars.There are many more that would take longer to detail.
The rivalry and media wars among boxing heroes are always gate records and fights to remember. There is no fight today that the world demands to see more than Mayweather and Pacquiao. Top Rank, Golden Boy, and Mayweather are invited also to throw egos aside, sit at a desk and have that fight done. If both win, obviously – if both boxers do not throw their money as it seems that they are doing, they will win for the maintenance of a couple of generations, and the promoters, as well. So, let’s
do it. Stop having the world wait.
Thank you for reading my thoughts.
