What Mayweather-Pacquiao Means for Their Legacies

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Every great fighter has a legacy, which tends to be tethered to an event or another fighter.

Muhammad Ali would not be “The Greatest” without Joe Frazier; “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler would not be viewed as one of the best middleweights of all-time without warring with Tommy Hearns; Mike Tyson will forever be synonymous with the infamous “Bite Fight” against Evander Holyfield; Arturo Gatti’s legacy would not be where it is without Micky Ward; and Diego Corrales would not be remembered so fondly without José Luis Castillo.

Now we have this mega-fight coming up on May 2 between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. They have always been linked -- yet, until now, they have never fought. They are generational standards, their legacies firmly cemented. Neither man really needs the other to further define his hall-of-fame career. They are each Canastota-bound five years from the second that they throw their last punch for money. However, they do need each other to enhance their legacies, with the 36-year-old Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 KOs) having far more to gain by defeating the 38-year-old Mayweather (47-0, 26 KOs).

Since the fight did not take place in 2010, as many boxing aficionados hoped it would, Pacquiao’s image has diminished. He has taken a pounding, literally and figuratively, in a controversial loss to Tim Bradley in 2013, followed by the disastrous sixth-round knockout “Pac-Man” suffered later that year at the hands of the chiseled Juan Manuel Marquez. The wear on Pacquiao had been considerable.

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For Pacquiao, beating Mayweather would erase that. It vaults him back into that rare pantheon as one of the all-time great welterweights, simply because he would achieve something no one has previously done and something many experts doubt the WBO welterweight titlist can do. Pacquiao, by virtue of doing the unthinkable, would supplant Mayweather as this generation’s best. He would have once again defied his detractors with another bitter sip to swallow after rolling up victories over the larger Oscar De La Hoya and Miguel Cotto. This is certainly no different; only the odds are much longer.

Pacquiao has not stopped an opponent in six years, last winning within the distance in November 2009 against Cotto. “Pac-Man” could not even stop Chris Algieri, though he dominated his inferior foe in almost every second of every round. Mayweather’s name with a ‘W’ next to it makes Pacquiao’s career.

Mayweather, however, is not Algieri, or Bradley, or Brandon Rios, or any other fighter he has ever faced. That is why Pacquiao, a 3-to-1 underdog to Mayweather, has only to gain.

Mayweather, on the other hand, has only to lose. His legacy is sealed as one of the best all-time defensive wizards with a resume that includes many of the same fighters Pacquiao has faced, like his sheer dominance over Marquez and the struggle against a near-prime De La Hoya. Mayweather wins and still loses -- with fight fans looking for opponents’ flaws. They were past their prime (Shane Mosley) or too small (Marquez) or too young (Canelo Alvarez). If Mayweather dispatches Pacquiao the way many anticipate, some excuses along those lines are sure to surface.

The pressure was on Mayweather, not Pacquiao, to make this fight. Mayweather, unfairly or not, had been cast as the one running away from this matchup for years. To go down as one of the greatest fighters of all-time without having faced one of the best of his era would have left a void on his resume.

“It’s why Floyd did what he did and made the fight,” said Stephen Espinoza, executive vice president and general manager of Showtime Sports. “Floyd has gotten a bad knock in this whole thing. He’s wanted to make this fight for years. He didn’t need this fight to cement his legacy. He did it because it’s what boxing fans -- and sports fans -- had wanted to see for years.”

There is an aura of invincibility that radiates from Mayweather, though it is eroding. Mayweather’s myth took some cracks when he beat Marcos Maidana in May. It was the first time “Money” had been pushed since Castillo challenged him the first time they met in April 2002.

Mayweather wants to be remembered as this generation’s greatest fighter. He wants to break Rocky Marciano’s all-time 50-0 record by going undefeated; but like Marciano in his time -- if he had not faced Ezzard Charles, Archie Moore and Jersey Joe Walcott -- Mayweather’s “0” would have been empty if “Pacquiao W 12” was not on his record.

“After it’s done, and hopefully your money lasts, that’s all you have left is what you did and your legacy,” said future hall of famer Bernard Hopkins, who has built a strong legacy of his own. “Floyd had to take this fight so he wouldn’t go down in history as the one everyone blamed for why the fight everyone wanted to see in this time never happened; and Floyd would have been blamed. Now that it’s made, it’s set, and Mayweather does what he usually does, no one can question his legacy again.”

A convincing victory over Pacquiao would substantiate Mayweather’s place among the top-10 all-time best.

Joseph Santoliquito is the president of the Boxing Writer's Association of America and a frequent contributor to Sherdog.com's mixed martial arts and boxing coverage. His archive can be found here.