It’s hard to imagine the world of boxing once both Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao retire. For good and bad, they’re at the center of almost everything, and especially meme battles between fans, even if they’re probably never going to get in the ring together.
The prime of both of their careers is behind them. Pacquiaio probably peaked around 2008-2010. The knockout he receivers from Juan Manuel Marquez following the loss to Timothy Bradley which was simply the ringside officals making a colossal mistake (unless there was something dirtier involved) almost took him out of the sport. But he came back to beat Brandon Rios and get revenge against Bradley. The talk about Mayweather was back on.
Mayweather has made an excuse each time the debate over whether or not he should be fighting Manny Pacquiao came up. His health, blood tests, the financial split, Bob Arum. He never runs out of them, making the rumors about him picking opponents he knows how to beat seem even closer to the actual truth.
Now, the two are engaging in some sort of social media war about who is avoiding who. Mayweather got a huge favor from the judges and Marquez when they both beat Pacquiao. It put Mayweather on a path to make a lot of money without having to run into Pacquiao again. But you can only run away from destiny for so long. The mockery has returned, and maybe this time, for the sake of boxing fans, Mayweather will finally run out of excuses to make.
