• Welterweight

Floyd & Pacquiao told to 'put it on the line' by Hitman

Will Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jnr ever fight? © Getty Images

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Floyd Mayweather Jnr and Manny Pacquiao have been told they simply cannot hope to live up to the legends of the sport's past if they continue to avoid fighting each other.

Thomas ''The Hitman'' Hearns knows better than most about boxing super fights, after he spent a career fighting iconic names in classic battles. The names of Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler and Roberto Duran all shared a ring with the Hitman, who became the first man to win titles in four divisions.

Back then, Hearns said it was all about pride, and the need to stay ahead of one's rival. Now 53, Hearns was recently inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, an honour Mayweather and Pacquiao would surely like to emulate in the future.

However, the pair continue to find excuses in order to avoid each other, whether it be a dispute over pre-fight drug testing or a clash over financial negotiations. To a legend like Hearns, none of it makes sense.

''We believed in taking on all comers,'' Hearns said, according to Fox Sports. ''Every fight wasn't necessarily a good fight, but to us we knew we had to take the fight in order to move on. If we didn't take a fight, we couldn't move ahead.

''We knew we had to perform because if we didn't do that, another man would get up on us. We never wanted anybody to have the upper hand over us. You wanted to have the upper hand.

''If not, just think how fights would have been different. You wouldn't have had the chance to see all the fights you saw. You wouldn't have had a chance to have all the thrills from seeing us fight, me and Ray Leonard and Marvin Hagler and Roberto Duran. You would have never seen that.

''I thank God because God allowed that to happen in my time and I fought great fights.''

Mayweather is currently set to take on Miguel Cotto while Pacquiao will fight Timothy Bradley, but Hearns believes after those bouts that the pair should ''put it all on the line and go for it.''

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