Shouldn’t it be Mosley?

Floyd Mayweather Jr. once commented that although boxing is a sport, the reality is it is for the most part a business. His statement was meant to underscore the fact that boxing duels are oftentimes decided by the revenue they will generate. That sometimes, the rightful boxers are swept aside.

Somehow, one gets this feeling about the upcoming Manny Pacquiao fight. The pound-for-pound king has a scheduled November 14 bout against Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto.

In the past, many fights are promoted based on the records of the pugilists. If you are champion, you wait for the challenger who has the best record, the one ranked next or the “mandatory challenger.” This might be a simplistic approach, but it is fair to the fighter and, to a certain extent, to the fans, too.

I, however, acknowledge that the business side is a necessary aspect of prize-fighting. If we don’t consider the money that the fights would generate, then we would not have seen the likes of Hagler vs. Leonard, Leonard vs. Hearns, Pavlik vs. Hopkins and, yes, Pacquiao vs. de la Hoya. But you see, somehow these fights were money makers because the boxers were properly matched.

This statement, one may argue, has the benefit of hindsight. However, it seems there are very obvious reasons Cotto is the wrong choice. Although Pacquiao had a dramatic win against Marco Antonio Barrera, the rules on mandatory challengers have been thrown out the window, the apparent force-fitting of Cotto into the next worthy opponent makes one feel uncomfortable.

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