Opinion: Is Floyd Mayweather, Jr Really Afraid to Face Manny Pacquiao?

Is Floyd Mayweather Jr really Afraid to face Manny Pacquiao inside the ring? The question surfaced when Philboxing's Efifanio Almeda quoted a friend who said that Floyd Mayweather, Jr is afraid to face the Filipino boxer.

It turned out that his friend's daughter bumped into the former heavyweight boxer George Foreman while they were inside an elevator in Texas.

When asked about what he thinks of the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight, Foreman reportedly said: 'Mayweather is afraid to fight Manny' Actually Foreman may just be repeating what some boxing analysts and commentators are saying - that Mayweather is afraid to fight Pacquiao.

They cited different reasons for saying it. One is Mayweather's fear of losing his zero loss record which will lead to the exclusion of the word 'undefeated' whenever he is introduced to the audience before he climbs the ring. The other probable reason is the humiliation that he will get if he gets knocked out by a much smaller boxer who represents a third world country.

Mayweather has been criticizing Pacquiao for being an 'amateur' and 'ethnic minority' in his country as quoted in a Philstar.com report:

“Let’s not forget who generated a revenue of $2.5 million in one fight alone. The only reason why he’s popular is because he’s an ethnic minority and from the Philippines so it’s something special. If he was from Africa he would be just another boxer,” he said

But any boxing analyst will agree with the observations cited by Mr. Almeda in the Norton-Foreman fight where he quoted Muhammad Ali as saying that the cause of Norton's loss was because he was scared to fight Foreman .

In the scuttled Pacqiao -Mayweather match which was originally scheduled for March 13, Mayweather was probably looking for a graceful exit from the match which could have been the biggest fight of the year with a promise of at least $30 million revenue windfall for each boxer.

 (original article appeared @ Digital Journal )