Run, Floyd, run

There is no doubt that Floyd Mayweather Jr. is a master showman.

During his legendary boxing career, he always controlled the narrative, the timing and — more importantly — the risk. That’s why when he decided to hang up his gloves, he walked away with a pristine 50-0 record, a handsome “The Best Ever” branding and a cool $1.57-million career earnings in his pocket.

But there’s somebody whom Mayweather couldn’t manipulate: Manny Pacquiao.

You see, both Mayweather and Pacquiao signed a deal to face each other for one last time in a professional boxing match on 18 September at The Sphere in Las Vegas. To make the deal sweeter, Netflix came into the picture to stream the fight, making sure that boxing fans around the world will witness the emotional rematch between two of the greatest boxers of the previous generation.

But a few weeks later, Mayweather was trying to flip the script, or rather, duck the challenge, saying that what he signed up for wasn’t for a professional fight but for just a mere “exhibition match.”

Wait, what? Really!?

What Mayweather is doing is a typical defensive stunt. By stripping the fight of its professional status, he creates a “win-win” scenario for himself and a “lose-lose” scenario for the sport. If he loses an exhibition match, he officially remains “undefeated” in the record books. But if ever he wins, he can thump his chest, claiming that he is truly “The Best Ever” and his 2015 victory over the Filipino legend was no fluke.

Honestly, Mayweather’s avoidance to an official sanctioned fight is laughable at best and insulting at worst. It is a great disservice to the sport that he has been manipulating in his three-decade professional career.

Pacquiao’s willingness to risk his health and his status just to settle an unfinished business on top of the ring makes him a folk legend. On the other hand, Mayweather’s brazen desire to bubble-wrap his 50-0 record by branding their looming rematch as a mere exhibition and collecting advance payment shortly after signing on the dotted lines makes him a businessman.

If the fight will remain as a high-tech circus — as what Mayweather has been harping before the American media — it will be a visual marvel that lacks a soul. Boxing is a high-stake sport that thrives on the possibility of getting beaten. Without the risk of having a “1” in a boxer’s loss record, the drama evaporates.

We’ve seen a lot of ring battles, but this one feels different. It feels like a crossroad for both Pacquiao and Mayweather — an encounter that is hard to avoid, knowing that when the dust settles, there will only be one warrior left standing.

Mayweather has to stop treating boxing as if it is a business. For the sake of the fans and the history that they share, he should stop calling the fight as a mere spectacle and, instead, put his perfect 50-0 record on the line by facing Pacquiao in a kill-or-be-killed duel.

It’s over, Floyd. It’s either you face Pacquiao now or go down in boxing history as a laughingstock despite keeping a shiny 50-0 record.