Pound-for-pound kings Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao will finally face each other in a fight set to break all sorts of records involving money in the brutal sport of boxing.
But other than the big pot of gold at stake, the fight of the century offers both fighters an opportunity to enhance their respective legacies: For Mayweather, it's about staying undefeated after 48 professional fights. As for Pacquiao, it's becoming the first and probably the only boxer to win a lineal championship in five different weight divisions.
Mayweather, who has been undefeated in 47 fights, will stake his immaculate record against someone tabbed as the only fighter with the tools to crack his impregnable defense. For six years following the collapse of his first negotiation with Pacquiao's camp, Mayweather had received tremendous backlash from boxing analysts and fans for allegedly avoiding Pacquiao and his potent left hook.
By accepting the fight with Pacquiao, the Grand Rapids native not only proved he's not afraid of the Filipino slugger but he has also given himself a chance to silence his critics and back his claim as the greatest fighter at least in this generation.
If he wins over Pacquiao on May 2, he will move one win away to tying Rocky Marciano's long-standing record of 49-0. Moreover, he will accomplish a feat Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Lennox Lewis and Oscar De La Hoya did in their careers by beating a consensus rival in their generation.
On the other hand, Pacquiao may not have the undefeated record to protect anymore, but the fight with Mayweather give him the golden opportunity to win a fifth lineal championship in his career. Like Money May, Pacquiao is a four-division lineal champion, having won the crown at flyweight, featherweight, junior lightweight, and junior welterweight. Already an eight-division champion, a lineal title at welterweight at the expense of Mayweather would certainly give him a special place in boxing history as the first to pull off a feat that could never be done again.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
