Manny Pacquiao – Floyd Mayweather JR – The Popularity Contest Settled
By Siri Karri
Chocolate or Vanilla?
Team Edward or Team Jacob? (If you don’t get the reference that means you are a good person at heart)
Batman or Superman? (Bruce Wayne over Wuss Kent any day)
Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao?
Somehow, determining the Pound-for-Pound King of boxing has divided fans just as handily as the trivial questions preceding it . . . in a time when boxing is constantly under attack and needs its fans united more now than ever.
The debate isn’t one-sided by any means; Mayweather is an astounding 41-0 and Pacquiao is not far behind at 53-3-2. Mayweather represents the epitome of technical brilliance, while Pacquiao is the scrappy fire plug with hand speed to rival Bruce Lee. Floyd has enjoyed an unending stretch of dominance, while Pacquiao has enjoyed playing underdog knockout king for a good part of his career.
Each of their strengths counterbalances the other’s standstill; Mayweather got his opponents when they were younger, but Pacquiao usually finished his opponents in a more devastating fashion. Mayweather is undefeated, but Manny has a good deal more professional fights as well as belts.
That’s where the debate tends to get ugly.
This is the part where, after a skillful debate, fans often devolve into attacking their opposition on facets that have only minimal significance. Fans of “Money” Mayweather will point out Manny’s ability to fight at much larger weight classes while still physically overwhelming opponents and immediately accuse him of steroids. “Pac-man” Pacquiao fans will meanwhile attack Mayweather on his host of personal problems (despite their insignificance to his boxing skill) and accuse him of ducking Pacquiao recently when he poses the only legitimate threat to his legacy.
This is going to either be revelatory or irritating to both parties, but I’m going to go ahead and point out what this is nothing more than a popularity contest.
This is like voting for senior class president.
On the one hand you have “Frank Moneyway”. He has a perfect 4.0 GPA in his high school career but he’s been slacking off on his extra-curricular activities recently and his ex-girlfriend can attest to the fact that he’s a royal a-hole with an ego that could blot out the sun. However, there’s no denying that this guy was the best dude for the job last
Standing opposite to him is “Manvel Packer”, a kid who moved to the school only a year ago. He has a 3.7 GPA and literally does every sport imaginable, not to mention that he’s taking advanced classes at the local university. He’s also charming to a fault; he could sell ice to the Eskimos and firewood to the Devil. There are some unsettling rumors, however, that he’s been cheating to keep his high GPA at the University and that his parents pulled strings to get him onto the varsity lacrosse team.
You’d think it’s an impartial vote, but it’s not. Many students have had lunch with Manny and are taken up by his foreign charm. On the other hand, Frank has had four years to gather legions of admirers who praise his skill and tenure.
I’ll be honest, I believe Manny Pacquiao is the pound-for-pound king and is 2nd behind Sugar Ray Robinson for the greatest of all time. I’ll cite his spectacular athleticism, his knockout victories, his absurd hand speed, literally everything I can to convince you that I’m right. But in the end, I know what this is.
It’s a popularity contest.