If Mayweather & Pacquiao Did Fight?

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Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather takes Years, but Tommy Hearns vs. Ray Leonard took only a few minutes!

By Johnny Benz, Doghouse Boxing. - I strongly believe that fans of Boxing have every right to be pissed off over the fight that has yet to materialize, Floyd "Money" Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao. I don't care what the excuses are, or what side is to blame, there is no reason to deny fans with this long of a wait. One such person who believes it shouldn't have taken this long is one of Boxing's all time greatest trainers in Emmanuel Steward. Recently on the BBC Radio Live program, Steward spoke out addressing the fact that a fight the fans want shouldn't take so long to come off.

Steward recalls a fight from the 80's in which fans wanted to see, much in the same manner the fans want to see Mayweather vs. Pacquiao. That fight was with his fighter, Tommy Hearns pitted against "Sugar" Ray Leonard. Now here is the clencher... unlike Mayweather vs. Pacquiao which is taking years to make, Hearns vs. Leonard took but a mere moment in time to put together.

Regarding Hearns vs. Leonard, Steward stated: "I could see something building up, so finally I called up [Leonard's manager] Mike Trainer and said 'Mike, it looks like the public wants to see Ray and Tommy fight and he said 'why don't we meet today?"

Could it really be that easy? Get on a plane that day and hammer out a deal? Apparently, yes!

Steward added: "So I jumped on a plane and we met at an airport coffee shop. Mike Trainer said 'what are you looking for for Tommy?' I said, 'I want $5m for Tommy'. He said 'have you lost your mind? How much do you think Ray should get?' And I said $8m. They were all shocked, they thought I was going to ask for more for Tommy. They stepped out for a minute, came back and said 'pal, you've got a deal'. I shook hands and flew back to Detroit on the exact same plane that I came on - that's how quick the deal was made."

Yes Folks, you read that right... a deal was made that quickly. Not days, not weeks, months or years... but in a few short minutes. In about the time it takes to order a Pizza!

"One of the biggest fights in history was made on a quick handshake in about 30 minutes. There were no egos involved. We knew the public wanted it," Steward went on to add.

You know, it seems there was a time when Boxers knew what they had to do... and that was give the public the fights they wanted to see. No excuses, just get the fight done and feed the fans.