Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s dominating performance over "Sugar" Shane Mosley turned out to be his most complete performance against a top-flight competitor in a few years. When it was said and done, the official scorecards for the bout were 118-110 and 119-109 (twice). Stubborn detractors will point to Mosley's age and recent inactivity as the reason and cause for the easy win. Although age didn't matter when he dismantled Antonio Margarito in January of 2009, the layoff, however, most likely played a part in Mosley's stale performance and inability to adjust to Mayweather's own adjustments.
Mayweather's mettle was tested early though, as he was twice rocked by Mosley's right hand in the second round. In fact, the second right hand had him on shaky legs and nearly tasting the canvas for a brief moment. Mayweather fought through the cobwebs and finished the round to a roaring crowd hoping for his demise. Over the next few rounds, Mayweather adjusted his style and went back to being defensive at first. As his lead and counter right hands connected on Mosley's head with increasing frequency, he uncharacteristically pressed the action until the final bell.
During Mayweather's post-fight interview with HBO's Larry Merchant, he was asked if Manny Pacquiao would be his next opponent. "If Manny Pacquiao takes the blood and urine tests, we can make the fight happen for all the fans," he replied.
Manny Pacquiao is currently in the final days of his congressional campaign in the Philippines. According to some informal polls, Pacquiao looks to be an early favorite to win the congressional seat he so desires. He has said his political career will allow him to continue boxing twice per year. Should Pacquiao win the election, we might expect to see negotiations for a fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao resume in the days following. My gut feeling, however, tells me not to hold my breath.
I went against my gut feeling and was outwardly optimistic in the signing of this fight the first time around. The killing stroke in the negotiations of the fight proved to be a mere 10 days, as Pacquiao was asking for random blood testing to be cut off at 24 days, while Mayweather asked for 14 days. The solution seemed simple: meet in the middle at 19 days. Unfortunately, the galactic egos of both men prevented either side from budging from their stance. The fight fell apart.
Yesterday, Pacquiao allegedly* made a formal statement to mpboxing.com:
"I am willing to help the sport for the future of the sport. I do not want to see anyone cheat or cheat this sport. For that reason I am willing to consider taking blood as close as 14 days prior to the fight, as long as, my opponent does the same, and it is not a lot of blood, just enough to test.
I do not want anyone having an unfair advantage where someone may get hurt. I am willing to do my part to help this sport out."
Despite Pacquiao's sudden willingness to bend to 14 days, I'm expecting more roadblocks to spring up in the road to the fight of this generation. Prior to Pacquiao's statement, Mayweather had already stated that his willingness to cut off testing at 14 days was off the table. Furthermore, the revenue split might also be a stumbling block now, as Pacquiao's fight with Joshua Clottey did approximately 750,000 pay-per-view buys, while Mayweather's fight with Mosley is expected to, at the very least, double that number. Mayweather originally obliged Pacquiao's demands regarding glove size and a 50-50 purse split during the first round of negotiations. He has said that he expects to be less gracious the second time around. With the expected blockbuster success of his dominating performance over Mosley, Mayweather's success could end up being the lynch pin in the second round of negotiations.
In my humble opinion, Mayweather should accept Pacquiao's acceptance to cut off testing at 14 days and play hardball with glove size and revenue split. While we sit back, wait and watch, we should be prepared for the worst.
* [EDITOR'S NOTE: There have been recent reports questioning the validity of that statement, as Pacquiao evidently is now denying that he agreed to taking blood tests 14 days prior to a proposed fight.]