Manny Pacquiao has announced he will return to the ring for Japanese MMA company Rizin Fighting Federation in 2023. Like his old rival Floyd Mayweather before him, it is expected that ‘PacMan’ will face Rizin stars in cross-codes clashes that adhere to boxing rules, rather than in mixed martial arts bouts.
‘Money’ Mayweather has racked up two knockouts for Rizin in exhibition bouts. Tenshin Nasukawa and Mikuru Asakura were both stopped by the 45-year-old as he continued his lucrative retirement. While Floyd has not engaged in an official pro fight since 2017, he has racked up several seven-figure paydays for unscored bouts. These have ranged from beating up the great and the good of Rizin to indulging influencers like Logan Paul and Deji.
READ MORE:
Pacquiao is now trying to drink from the same cup. The Filipino icon contested a six-round exhibition with YouTuber DK Yoo last month. Pacquiao knocked the fitness guru down on the way to an unofficial points win. This deal with Rizin means we will be seeing plenty more of the 43-year-old in the ring in 2023.
On the one hand, that’s a good thing. Pacquiao is one of the finest boxers of all-time and thus any chance to watch him is a treat for fans. Boxing has been spoiled in recent years by the return of some of its greatest stars. Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. Ricky Hatton and Marco Antonio Barrera. Outings for David Haye, Julio Cesar Chavez and more. Followers of the sweet science used to have to watch ESPN Classic Fights to see the stars of yesteryear. Now they just buy a pay-per-view.
As thrilling as it is to see boxing’s former greats back in the ring, is it healthy for the sport as a whole? Does boxing have a nostalgia problem that is precluding the development of newer stars? Let’s put it this way, Mike Tyson’s unscored exhibition bout with Roy Jones Jr in 2020 was the biggest-selling pay-per-view card of that year. The fact it was during the COVID-19 pandemic perhaps skews things a little, so let’s explain it another way. Tyson and Jones’ exhibition did more buys than any bout featuring current heavyweight king Tyson Fury ever has.
The problem extends beyond the heavyweight division. At welterweight, WBC/WBA/IBF champion Errol Spence Jr and WBO kingpin Terence Crawford are on the verge of a superfight. But even if we do get that dream 147lb battle, will it make the same dent as Mayweather’s dalliance with Logan Paul? Would it do better numbers than an exhibition between Mayweather and his old rival Pacquiao?
When the exhibition boom first started, people used to worry about the health of the fighters. A shocking knockout for Evander Holyfield against Vitor Belfort drew the whole enterprise into question. But those sort of one-sided mismatches have not been allowed to happen since. Most exhibitions are good-natured opportunities to see names from boxing’s past mix it with the internet-famous and the barely-famous. Now it is not the health of the retired fighters that is being risked, but the health of the sport they once ruled.
How can Fury truly emerge when there is the lingering promise that we might see a different Tyson altogether? How can Spence and Crawford become the next Mayweather and Pacquiao if the originals won’t get out of the way? Nostalgia sells, but by its very nature it can’t last forever.
By the time boxing’s middle-aged mafia are too old even for four-rounders, the generation they usurped will be retiring themselves. But, without having captured mainstream attention in the same way as their forebears, the path to exhibition riches will be closed to them. A boxing landscape in thrall to its former heroes will have no space to mint a new generation of legends.
Harmless fun or damaging to the sport? Everyone has their own take on the rocketing popularity of exhibitions. But whether you enjoy them or not, remember that in the grand scheme of things, they are a side dish rather than the main course. Boxing still needs a steady flow of genuinely exciting fights from its current crop if it is to thrive. Mayweather and Pacquiao is all well and good, but it’s time for Spence and Crawford.
*18+ | BeGambleAware | Odds Subject To Change
