• Steve Bunce

Quieten down Floyd, it's Pac-man time

Steve Bunce November 8, 2011

A massive weekend awaits for Manny Pacquiao in the coming days, and it just so happens that we've had a repeat of what has happened before so many of Manny's recent fights: Floyd Mayweather has reared his head and started issuing challenges, dates and all sorts of things in an attempt to hijack some of the publicity. It's distracting really that every time we go for a massive fight, Manny's great rival comes out of hiding and starts issuing challenges, his father comes out of hiding and starts swearing, it's getting a bit old hat - a bit boring.

On this occasion the Mayweather camp decided to set a date next May for a potential fight, but Pacquiao obviously responded by saying, 'Let me get past the guy in front of me first'. That man is Juan Manuel Marquez, whom he faces for a third time (drawing the first and winning the second), although I believe this will be the easiest of the three for Pacquiao.

Marquez, in theory, is the best lightweight in the world. But this fight is at welterweight, and Pacquiao has been operating at that weight for such a long time. He's established. I know he started down in the flyweight and super-flyweight divisions but he is now a solid welterweight. This is the one time when Pacquiao will really dominate the fight, it'll be the easiest of the three for Pacquiao and we may see something spectacular.

The reason I say that is primarily because Manny will be aiming for a stoppage; Mayweather went the distance with Marquez so Pacquiao will be aiming to do better. Also, he'll want to get Marquez out of his hair. The Mexican has a valid claim that he won their first bout, but we move on and this will be a huge fight, the Philippines will come to a standstill for it, and it will be a big event.

As for Mayweather's proposal of a May 5 clash with Pacquiao, there are more Mayweather experts out there than there are UFO theories so I'm not going to predict if the fight will happen! Every man you speak to has the inside track and if you listen to them this fight would have happened three years ago. That was 2008, now it's November 2011! It's three-and-a-half years out of date, I'm sick of it, so until we see Pacquiao walk out and touch gloves with Mayweather I'm not going to believe it.

Will it happen? Yes, I think it will. Is it closer to happening? I'm not sure.

Tyson Fury, the ultimate pantomime hero

Tyson also fights this weekend against Neven Pajkic, and I've got to admit I love his raw honesty. This is Fury's fourth unbeaten opponent in his last six fights, one of which was obviously Dereck Chisora, a big moment that put Tyson on the map. That night was an example of why I love Tyson Fury: He gets involved, sometimes too involved to the point where he gets hurt, but he is tremendously entertaining. He's big, he's honest, he can fight, he's got a massive heart, and even though he's only had 16 bouts he has a huge presence on the British boxing scene; I would say he's not as well known as Amir Khan or Carl Froch, but he's not far off. They are, remember, world champions!

He's certainly not far behind Froch, who has been in some of the best title fights we've ever seen a British fighter compete in. The simple test is; can you walk down a high street? Can you walk into a local shop and all the grannies know you? Tyson scores highly on both of those. So do I!

Years ago when Tyson first came on the scene I called him Errol Flynn (ladies' favourite actor from the 1930s). He was so dashing and tall, but what I like about Fury is he understands pantomime. Some of his opponents might not, but Tyson will strip down to his chest and challenge people to fight like a real man. And then when he gets dressed he's winking. He understands pantomime - but he can fight too.

Does he overstep the mark with comments like, "I'm trying to break his ribs and make them stick out the other side"? No! Tyson does things with a sense of humour - it's all spoof. We're in the entertainment business. He'll probably get a public slap on the wrist from the Board for that - but who cares?

Let's not forget that David Haye got in trouble for some of the things he said about Wladimir Klitschko. But the Klitschkos didn't get in trouble for saying Haye would be leaving in an ambulance. A comment about something that is physically impossible, like smashing your ribs out of your body, is one thing. But a comment about something that is very possible, putting your opponent in an ambulance, is a totally different thing. So Tyson is a long way short of that.

People like Tyson Fury. You might say that's purely because he's 6ft 9 and people remember him, but there's plenty of anonymous 6ft 7 boxers out there - he's not one of them.

Statement made, now patience the key for George Groves

Reflecting on last weekend, it was a brilliant performance by George Groves against Paul Smith, who now has some hard decisions to make. He needs to think about if he's really going to compete at super-middle or if he's going to lose the weight and go back to middleweight. Or he could move on and do other things in his career? I think he'd be a good broadcaster and I think he'd also make a good trainer.

But that was a statement from Groves. He was looking for shots, sometimes you go 12 rounds without finding one, but he did it in the second round. It was a great performance - Paul Smith is a good fighter.

The only reason Groves isn't ready for a world title shot, as he admits himself, is because he has got Andre Ward, Carl Froch, Lucian Bute and, next month, probably Mikkel Kessler as champions. Groves isn't stupid, he's sparred with a couple of them - Kessler and Froch - and he knows how good they are. In my opinion, those four champions are the best four champions of any weight. I'm not saying they're the best in isolation because Pacquiao is pound-for-pound better than them, but the strength at super-middle is unbelievable, particularly when Kessler beats Robert Stieglitz when they meet.

The smart move for Groves is to fight people who stretch him, he needs to look at the list of challengers for super-middleweight titles over the past couple of years and fight one or two of them. In a year's time, take Glen Johnson, the guy that took Bute and Froch 12 rounds. You need to get Groves more experience, he'll tell you that. If there was a weak link for a super-middleweight title, Groves could be a world champion tomorrow. But those aren't weak links, they're four good champions.

Groves is 23 years of age, take a couple of years, defend his title, have a rematch with Kenny Anderson, then have a couple of international fights, there's a rematch with James DeGale at some point. Ward, Froch, Bute and Kessler won't be around forever, they'll retire or move up. So George won't have to wait forever.

Burning up the form book

Also impressive at the weekend was Ricky Burns, who produced a staggering win over Michael Katsidis to claim the WBO's interim lightweight title in a really hard battle of three sections. Burns dominated, Katsidis came back and then Burns held on for the win. The judges gave it to Burns by five or six rounds, I had it by two or three. Either way, it was a vintage performance.

Once again, you have to say it was superb matchmaking. Getting Katsidis when the time was right, that's the mark of a great boxing promoter. Frank Warren knows when to take a risk with his fighters, Burns was the underdog, but he produced a brilliant performance. Burns is now extremely sellable, Katsidis is hugely well-known in the States, he's fought a lot of good people, so Burns is on the map.

There's plenty of fights for Ricky now. Perhaps the winner of the Brandon Rios v John Murray fight, perhaps Kevin Mitchell if he can get back on track, plus you've got an all-Scottish clash if Willie Limond can beat Anthony Crolla later this month. Whatever channel they take, Ricky is now allowed a soft first title defence. It's written in the rules!

Steve Bunce is co-host of ESPN's Pardon the Interruption show. Click here for more details

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