Will Mayweather-Pacquiao II Really Happen?

You just can't force people to get excited

Like you, I find the idea of Mayweather-Pacquiao II ultimately exasperating. While it's true these are still probably the best fighters on earth - even at their advancing ages, it's hard to see the positives in all this. Chances are, after all, that the fight would be like the first one - not bad, but not great. Oh, it might be a bit more competitive than the original go round, but it still wouldn't be worth the attention it would inevitably receive.

More importantly, though, I - probably like you - want to see the sport move on. Senior tours are fine and all, but they shouldn't be what the sport is all about. When Leonard fought Hearns the second time around back in '89, it was a big deal, sure, but the sport was well into the Tyson era by that point. In other words, there was a new generation at the forefront. The older guys were just the cherry on a very big sundae.

How much things have changed. Now we have to have Duran potentially fighting in an exhibition in order to bring in pay per view buys. Sad, really. Still, a Floyd-Manny retread isn't the answer everyone's looking for. A new era led by new stars is. There's guys like GGG, Bud Crawford, Keith Thurman and Anthony Joshua out there. There's good fights to be made and possibilities to get excited over.

Yeah, things may be quiet for a bit on the pay per view front, but that's because fighter's haven't been allowed to organically develop in the way that they used to. We live in an era of Adonis Stevenson and Danny Garcia, not Leonard and Hearns. And so, yeah, it's going to be a bit before new stars make the leap from boxer to household name. It can happen, though, if the powers that be would actually step back and let it happen. Mayweather-Pacquiao II might arguably only hold things back.

With that in mind, however, I'd be sure to check it out.