“One Fights for History, The Other for Redemption. Follow Their Journey”
So reads the poster of Pacquiao-Margarito 24/7.
After watching the first installment of 24/7, I believe I will skip the journey and meet both fighters at the destination.
Manny Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz summed it up best towards the end of the episode outlining the Margarito fight
as the best for Pacquiao “from a financial perspective.”There just seems to be no fire in this fight, and judging from all the smiling going on in the episode from trainer Freddie Roach, Pacquiao and Margarito they are going to have a hard time selling the position that these two men have a desire to fight one another.
One of the two major story lines in the installment dealt with the conflicted hero Pacquiao and his lack of focus due to his congressional duties. How much longer will Pacquiao want to play the dual role of boxer and politician?
“I think we haven’t lost him yet to politics,” always candid Roach said. “But we will some day soon.”
The other story line had to do with Margarito’s comeback to the ring following the discovery of a plaster-like substance in his hand wraps before his fight with Shane Mosley. The discovery culminated in Margarito having his boxing license suspended for a year.
On their own the two story lines are certainly interesting and also pertinent to the sport of boxing, but taken together to sell a fight does not work specifically because it is a fight they are trying to sell.
The story lines are missing the connection of two guys coming in to beat the blood out of each other.
A fighter who may be conflicted about whether or not he still wants to fight against another who may have needed to cheat to win has all excitement of a backyard barbeque.
It is not a collision course these two trains are on, they are heading in different directions.
Granted the fight will be exciting because Margarito is a forward moving bruiser and Pacquiao’s style is as undefined as it is amazing.
While there is no doubt in this writers mind that the fight will be amazing, these two fighters are just not cut out for the 24/7 format.
The format is perfect for a fighter who knows how to talk trash and bash.
The format is perfect for a Floyd Mayweather.
Whether he is bringing out a rooster with a tiny Olympic medal to personify and humiliate Oscar De Hoya or making fun of Shane Mosley’s haircut, Mayweather has a way of talking his way into an opponents head and creating on screen animosity.
“I’m doing Shane Mosley a favor, I’m letting him share the ring with greatness,” Mayweather proclaimed in the last 24/7. “The kid is so desperate, he is just a desperate fan.”
Mayweather the boastful braggart.. the man you love to hate.. the man who loves you to hate him.
It is the characteristics that define Mayweather, despised as they might be, that are the selling points of the man and which help sell a fight.
The problem with Pacquiao and the format is that he is too good of a guy to express contempt or rile the other fighter. The underlying feeling from this episode was that if Pacquiao and Margarito were not fighting each other they might just be getting together for a beer.
The one point that Pacquiao had to attack Margarito, the hand wrap incident, had Pacman chortling and grinning when giving his take on it.
While the episode failed on the front of testimonials and individual story lines, it could have no doubt have been buoyed by more clips of the two boxers former fights or more time spent on the sparring and regiment of the two training camps
This is not an indictment of either Pacquiao or Margarito, who will no doubt produce a more entertaining fight than any time Mayweather has entered the ring.
From a 24/7 standpoint though part. 1 made me feel that something was missing, and from a financial standpoint the fight may be the best for money, but it is “Money” that is missing from 24/7.
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