There’s no way to whitewash how terrible of a human being Floyd Mayweather is. Manny Pacquiao might not be a saint, but he’s obviously the good guy in this comparison, which makes him the obvious fighter to pull behind in the mega fight about to go down and shatter every possible financial boxing record.
But everything that happens in “real life” which means outside the ring is forgotten. People who watch Mayweather and hope that he loses use his violent past (and present?) against women as another log to throw in the fire of hate towards a boxer who made himself into the highest grossing athlete in the world by playing the role of the villain.
People who want to see Mayweather win simply don’t care about what he’s done wrong in his personal life. they want to watch a superbly gifted boxer who is still undefeated and almost impossible to hurt on a good night, taking on a fighter who has been chasing this fight for over half a decade. After more than six years of their prime wasting away in other fights, Mayweather ran out of excuses.
Why is this the end of something? Because while both fighters won’t retire after this bout (probably, we haven’t been hearing anything hinting to that), the ending for both is very near. Floyd Mayweather will probably not take on another contract after this one with Showtime ends (but who knows, when there’s money on the table), and Manny Pacquiao really doesn’t have anything left to achieve. It was always about this moment. Something in a person often shuts down when he accomplishes a goal he’s been chasing for so long, especially if he actually wins the fight.
There’s always the option of a rematch. The talk has been that the decision will go to Pacquiao and Mayweather won’t be willing to let it go and we’ll have a rematch, making even more money than the first fight. Considering how boxing is managed and handled, that won’t be a surprise. But once this hopefully epic encounter is over, we’re looking forward to a new landscape in boxing, one without most of the fans waiting for the one big fight to happen.