The on-going saga between pound-for-pound kings Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao and undefeated American Floyd Mayweather Jr. has become "foolish," according to Hall-of-Fame trainer Angelo Dundee.
Dundee, who trained boxing champions Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard and George Foreman, said in an interview with Examiner.com that both Pacquiao and Mayweather risk turning off boxing fans with their antics.
"It is foolish," Dundee said. "They're talking each fighter getting something like $40-million, and they cannot come to terms?"
A Pacquiao-Mayweather mega-fight, if it ever happens, may be the most lucrative bout in the history of the sport, with the potential to break all existing records for pay-per-view, live gate attendance, and fighters' purses.
But Dundee said boxing fans may soon start to get tired of the on-going saga between the Pacquiao and Mayweather camps.
"I think both of these camps are making a mistake. They may be misreading the boxing public, and it could cost them," he said. "That fight has been a hot topic, a fight that the fans really want, for a long time, for a few years now."
"But the public can be fickle. Maybe some new fighters come along and catch the public interest. Where does that leave Mayweather and Pacquiao?" Dundee asked.
He said his greatest champion, Ali, never once ran way from a challenger.
"Muhammad did not run away from (Joe) Frazier and (George) Foreman; he ran to them. Even when everyone thought Big George was an unbeatable, unstoppable monster," Dundee said.
The trainer said the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight needs to be done now, while the boxing fans are still interested in the two fighters.
"They need to sign the fight up and get it done. Six months from now, maybe the public won't care so much about them. That would be terrible, but it's a risk they are taking," Dundee said.
"Again, I just think it's stupid and it hurts the whole sport."
Source:http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/sports/01/16/12/ali-trainer-says-pacquiao-mayweather-saga-foolish
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