Pacquiao and the black fighter dilema

I'm pretty sure most people here have heard the criticisms from Campbell and his trainer that Pacquiao avoids black fighters. I never brought into this. It makes no sense to not fight someone based on their race. However, a fighter's style is very important when coming to match making. Any fighter can be beat if they go up against the wrong style. As such, fighters(especially top level fighters with clout) will routinely avoid styles that will trouble them.

For Pacquiao, the style that will give him the most trouble are boxers, particularly slick boxers that with a good defense. Pacquiao's people will not put him in there with that type of fighter unless there is a high demand for the fight and subsequently, a lot of money on the table. There are 3 good boxers that Pacquiao faced in his career that I can think of; Morales, Barrera, and Marquez. Two of those guys gave Pac trouble and all of them are typical Mexican fighters in the sense that they posses a ton of heart and skill but are prone to be drawn into brawls and tend to neglect defense. They are not exactly slick and their lack of defense and willingness to brawl falls right into Pac's strenghts.

So how do black fighters fit into the equation? Simple, slick boxers with a respect for defense are typically black, and are typically trained in the U.S. Now there haven't been many black fighters that Pac could have faced in his career. The few that he could've faced, his team elected not to put him in there with them. The winner of Guzman/Soto was supposed to fight Pac. Guzman won, Arum said he was boring and they passed on the fight. Pac went up to 135 and skipped right past Campbell who had 3 belts and fought straight ahead, no defense, David Diaz. After that he faced Hoya(no defense, no right hand) no problem there. Then Hatton(no defense, no right hand) no real problem there. Next, Mosley offered to go all the way down to 140 to fight Pac. This offer was of course turned down and Pac fought Cotto instead(no defense, no right hand), understandable.

As of now, there are no more brawlers and/or one handed defensively challenged fighters for Pac to take on. Pac is a great fighter and he has proven as much througout his career. However, he will have to do something he has never done before, take on one of those slick boxers that his team steered him away from his entire career. Some of the top fighters at 140 are Peterson, Bradley, and Alexander. At 147 you have Mosley, Williams, Berto, and Mayweather. It looks like Mayweather is the guy he'll have to face next. Unfortunately, Mayweather is the slickest out of all these guys and posses the best defense. It's a big challenge for Pac. Pac has a lot of heart though and he's up for it. After all he's accomplished, he still has the chance to do something he's never done before and raise his legacy even higher.

Keep in mind, I AM NOT SAYING PAC AVOIDS BLACK FIGHTERS. I'm saying that his team has kept him away from those relatively slick type boxers. It just so happens that many of them are black.

 

Bladerunner, there are black people in the Dominican Republic. Maybe you don't know this, but the slave trade took place there as well.

 

That was a good win for Pac. However, that guy wasn't all that slick, and didn't have an American style of fighting. Besides, Pac wasn't well known back then, he didn't have the clout to go around turning down title fights.

Campbell beat Diaz relatively easily. He did so a week before Pac fought Marquez. So no, Cambell didn't have a fight schedled. Also Diaz, needed a gift to to beat a washed up Morales in his previous fight.

If Soto had beat Guzman, he would've fought Pac. After Guzamn won, they simply acted like Guzman didn't exist. So the small window excuse is bogus. Yeah, Diaz had a belt. So what, Campbell had 3.

 

Both. Latino and black are not mutualy exclusive; Latino is a ethnicity, black is a race. There are a ton of people in latin countries who have just as much African blood as a black American.