Jail time puts Pacquiao-Mayweather bout in the backseat

Much to their fans' disappointment, whatever chance there was for the eagerly anticipated face-off between Sarangani Representative   and undefeated welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr  to happen, vanished when the latter was sentenced to go behind bars.

Mayweather’s 90-day imprisonment at the Clark County Detention in Las Vegas stems from the domestic violence suit filed against him by his ex-girlfriend, Josie Harris, the mother of his three children.

To this, Pacman’s adviser Michael Koncz revealed that the boxing superstar extends his prayer for his co-boxer, as said in an article by BoxingScene.com posted on Dec. 22.

“Manny’s official statement is that he’ll pray for Floyd and his family,” said Koncz.

According to the report, Justice of the Peace Melissa Saragosa ordered Mayweather to report to jail on Jan. 6 following his guilty plea on one account of “battery-domestic violence” and no contest to “two accounts of harassment.”

In addition, the 34-year-old boxer was “ordered to attend a year-long domestic violence counseling program, pay a fine of $ 2,500 and render 100 hours of community service.”

The article noted Top Rank promoter Bob Arum’s previous statement claiming that he’s going to meet with the “Manny Many Prizes” host in January to discuss the possible super-fight with Mayweather in June.

However, Arum refused to comment on how the sentence on Mayweather may affect on what is expected to be “the biggest fight in boxing history,” should it push through.

In response to Arum’s statement that revealed why he chose June as the fight date in order to give Mayweather some time to train, Koncz said, they are “not going to worry about who Manny will fight with until after the holidays.”

Recall that Pacquiao recently confirmed that there are ongoing negotiations with Mayweather's team, but such discussions can only be resumed soon as Mayweather completed his sentence.

Jail time effects

Meanwhile, analyst Kevin Iole deems that being in jail could dull Mayweather’s ring skills, especially since he’s already aging.

Iole told ABS-CBN that, "It is not uncommon for boxers to serve long jail stints and then come out and be successful in the ring once again."

Take for example Mike Tyson who served three years in jail but remained as skilled as he was when released.

"But Mayweather... will be at a much more advanced age. Tyson was 26 when he was released in prison. Mayweather, who will be 35 upon his release, is a fighter who relies greatly upon speed, quickness and timing," he added.

He continued, "Speed and quickness often decline in boxers once they reach their mid-30s, but the effects of imprisonment may accelerate that."

By MAUREEN MARIE BELMONTE
mb.com.ph

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