Boxing
Mayweather-Pacquiao 2 and Fury-Froch: Two fights nobody wants to see
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The boxing world was stunned on Monday night when Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao announced they would meet again, a decade-plus on from their first fight.
At least, that was the hope for those behind the Las Vegas contest. Instead of chaos, the news was greeted with a shrug and questions as to why it is happening now, if at all.
It’s obvious - a simple money grab, and nothing more.
Once again, boxing has proven itself as a discipline that can always shoot itself in the foot, a sport that too often produces matchups nobody is interested in seeing for any price.
But before these two legends decided to run it back this week, they're not the only ones involved in a fight seemingly on the cards that no-one wants to catch either.
John Fury, the father of former world heavyweight champion Tyson, has supposedly agreed to a showdown with Carl Froch with the pair exchanging verbals at the launch press conference for Tyson’s comeback fight against Arslanbek Makhmudov.
For those who want boxing to continue getting better and better, these two fights are ones which no one wants to see.
Mayweather and Pacquiao cash in for rematch after poor first fight
It’s a common cliché that Mayweather’s meeting with Pacquiao came a few years too late.
Towards the end of his career, Mayweather became a master at picking dangerous opponents at the right time. The American would often face his closest rivals when they were on the way out of the sport.
Against Pacquiao he did exactly that. Mayweather cruised to a unanimous decision win with Pacquiao doing very little to trouble the American. It will likely have been a different story if it was the Pacquiao from a couple of years prior who was all action.
A second Mayweather-Pacquiao fight is one which nobody wants, but they are still two names which command huge audiences and still fascinate the media who will get all nostalgic when reminiscing about their respective careers.
The first fight broke all sorts of records, including PPV buys, and with this rematch being streamed on Netflix, it will no doubt reach similar heights, or exceed them with this being so easily available.
Therefore, it is easy to see why when the opportunity presented itself, the rematch got made.
Mayweather’s financial problems are there for everyone to see, and Pacquiao isn’t in the best shape either, so there should be no surprises that the pair agreed, but there is an element of tragedy to this.
Two legends of the sport in their late forties, a simple cash grab, many of those within boxing can see what will happen, a rematch of a poor standard and questions as to why we needed to see it.
Fury vs. Froch fight is an embarrassment
From one end of the spectrum to the other.
John Fury appears to have got his wish after numerous social media posts calling out former world champion Carl Froch with the Nottingham man accepting the challenge.
This bout typifies the sad avenue boxing sometimes must go down to get eyeballs.
These two men should not be sharing a ring together. Fury is 60 years old while Froch is 12 years his junior.
If this fight does materialise, then it will be an embarrassing affair which will unfortunately bring a sizeable audience, albeit lacking hardcore boxing fans, because it’s a ridiculous matchup which should not be happening.
Things could end very badly for Fury, Froch is still in a good physical shape and will still pack a punch, and ‘The Cobra’ will love nothing more than to have another viral punch added to his resume to go alongside his classic 80,000 people at Wembley line.
Boxing is often a victim of two steps forward, and one step back, and having Mayweather-Pacquiao 2 coupled with Fury-Froch potentially taking place, a step has been firmly with these two contests, because quite frankly, who is really interested.
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