The news of Floyd Mayweather's sentencing has sent shockwaves throughout the boxing community, sparking a ton of reaction from fans and media alike. The emails have not stopped pouring with questions about how this will affect Mayweather's career and a potential showdown with Manny Pacquiao. Although I don't have all the answers, I do have an opinion, so check out what I had to say to inquiring minds who want to know.
Hello Ben. Hope all is well. Now that Mayweather is sentenced to 6 months in Jail will we ever see the May-Paq fight? Can the fight happen in June like Arum wanted (allegedly)? If they can somehow postpone the Jail time, will the fight still happen in May? You've reported that Arum has continued to basically fool Paq into thinking he's working on the fight, but Paq is a grown man...does he not know this or read reports on his own sport? When does he say make the Mayweather fight happen or I wont fight for you again? Is it difficult to get an interview with him? I believe when you get to that level he no longer has to say "let me see what my promoter wants". Arum is 80 and he's not taking that money where he's going. He needs to do something he hasn't done in a long time and that's purposely give people a fight in demand where the fighters are not both in his stable. When does the time come for reporters and fans alike to say we're going to boycott and stop giving you both millions unless you fight?
Sergio Martinez: I'm starting to feel bad for this guy. It seems like he was born 20 pounds too heavy to be a superstar. How would he do if he was a welterweight? I personally believe because of his age and the way he fights (Roy Jones like) he has two years left of his prime max. Why aren't the Mexican people pressuring Chavez to step up to the plate? It seems these days all fighters care about is their freaking record and not fighting the best.
Thanks for your time, SO3
BT: All is great for me. As for Floyd's sentencing, I really don't think that has any kind of major impact on whether or not we get to see Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, mainly due to the fact that, as I've pointed out time and time again, there were never any negotiations to begin with (although someone had Pacquiao believing negotiations were almost done). Technically, 3 of those 6 months were suspended, and he got credit for 3 days served, so he's really getting 87 days behind bars. There's also the possibility that he can get out sooner than that for good behavior, so as far as I know, the earliest he'll be out is around mid-March. Now, if you're one of those people who actually believes everything that Bob Arum has been saying, then yeah, absolutely, the fight could still happen in June, although it's doubtful because that would be an EXTREMELY aggressive schedule as far as training and promoting the fight goes (then again, the fight really doesn't need that much promoting). There's also the SLIM possibility that the sentence could be reduced if they file an appeal, which I hear they may try to do, and if so, then yeah, a June date could still work. A more realistic date would be later this year, however, possibly in September, but honestly, I wouldn't even hold my breath for the fight taking place at all in 2012. More than anything, this sentencing just gave Bob Arum the perfect opportunity to move forward with his original plans to put Pacquiao in with Marquez a fourth time and follow that up with Timothy Bradley. I think I'm more interested in seeing if Pacquiao's cut will still make May 5th too early of a return date for him, as Bob Arum repeatedly mentioned, or if that date now all of a sudden becomes an option for a Cinco de Mayo Pacquiao/Marquez IV border war.
As for Pacquiao reading reports in his own sport, this may come as surprise to you, but very few fighters actually follow boxing news on the internet like that. You have to keep in mind, fighting is their job. I don't know about you, but when I'm not at work, the last thing I'm doing is thinking about it. A lot of fighters, not all, but a lot of them stay as far away from boxing as possible when they're not fighting. Most don't even bother watching fights of fighters in and around their own division when they take place. They might have someone tell them about it in passing, but jumping on the internet to get their daily boxing updates is something that they rarely do. That being said, I'm sure Pacquiao knows whatever those around him are telling him. The question is, what exactly are those around him telling him and is it in his best interest? That I have no idea about, but what I do know, however, is that at one point, Pacquiao had enough concern about his accounting that he had a company look into it for him, then all of a sudden, when that company had something to report to him, he decided to fire them. That's fact! What exactly does that mean? It's hard to say, but I don't find it extremely odd that nearly all aspects of Pacquiao's career, from his endorsements to his legal representation to his new accounting firm, are all connected in some way, shape, or form to Top Rank Promotions. That seems EXTREMELY suspect to me, and I can't help but wonder if it violates the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act. But hey, I'm not Manny Pacquiao, so I guess I shouldn't worry too much about that.
It definitely sucks for Sergio Martinez that he's not a welterweight, but it's hard for me to feel too sorry for him. A fight with Chavez Jr. isn't exactly a mega-fight that I'm clamoring for anyway since I believe Martinez wins that fairly easily. Personally, I'm MUCH MORE interested in seeing a fight between Martinez and Andre Ward at maybe a catchweight of 165. In my opinion, that's a much more intriguing matchup of styles. Unfortunately, Martinez's team refuses to allow him to fight above 160 pounds. That's definitely their prerogative, but at the same time, they shouldn't be upset about Mayweather and Pacquiao not wanting to fight above 147 either. Technically, I guess Martinez should be given the fight with Chavez since the WBC has now ordered it, but like I said, that fight doesn't really move me much. And truth be told, I think Mexican fans are far more interested in seeing Chavez Jr. vs. Canelo Alvarez then they are in seeing either fighter face Martinez.
Ben, how are you sir? Marry Christmas to you. I must post my thoughts to you in hopes of getting your opinion. First, I will say that your website is perceived by fans as a " Floyd Mayweather website". I know you have defended your actions and work as being fair and unbiased. I personally have no problem with your website/work as long as you speak the truth. I'm my honest opinion, I feel you do. My personal opinion is that BOTH sides have acted improperly in negotiations but I don't want to beat a dead horse. I have and still think Floyd will beat Pacquiao. Heck, I've told my wife, don't be surprised if the fight is boring due to dominance by Floyd. With that said, I was curious and interested on your view of domestic violence case/sentencing knowing that Floyd is your friend and respected by you. I was disappointed when I saw nothing from YOU regarding THE biggest name in the sport. I saw your website touched on it by work of Felix Strunk. Espn (which never gives love to boxing) had it as their number one story all day as well as other boxing related websites that are frequented by the fans. Hell, my Houston radio station discussed Floyd and they hardly every talk boxing...Sportsradio 610 AM.We both know it was a huge story, so why no insight/view from you? Lets face it, fans visit your website to read Ben Thompson work, not Felix. Is it because he is your friend and gives you exclusives that others would die for? If that's the case, I understand you not wanting to write something negative about your friend in this hard time, but its kind of hard not to view fighthype.com as being biased. I mean, how else do you spin the reason of you not needing to touch on such a big story from the biggest star in the sport on such a well respected and visited website? We have seen your articles on how Manny is going broke and being leeched on (so sad to see that). You wrote on the art of non negotiations (Bob Arum is a great business man for himself...sucks for the fans). Heck, you have even touched on the speculation of Manny's infidelity rumors in your mailbag (no morals it seems, if true). Most, not all, but most of the articles you write on Pac are perceived by the masses as putting Manny in a negative light. I know you will tell me that was not your goal, but instead to bring it to light to put the truth to the fans. We appreciate that from you BUT why didn't you bring the truth and exposing the wrong Mr. Mayweather did and had done? It was not his first time having problems with domestic violence but we never got a lengthy analysis like you give others. You have given us timelines of lies by Bob Arum and Co. but no timeline of Floyd and the troubles he has gotten himself into to lead to his incarceration. That would be interesting too. Like I said before, if you decline to put Floyd in a negatively perceived article, I understand but you can't claim to be unbiased as well. Personally speaking Ben, I enjoy your work immensely but I can't say I was surprised to see nothing from you. Ask yourself honestly, if it would have been Pacquiao being guilty of domestic violence and being sentenced to jail time in the prime of his career, would you have written an article? Just my two cents. Thanks as always Ben, much love...Ruben P.S. I hope Floyd gets his life in order. I love the man and the way he has become a business. He does many wonderful things that nobody talks about but I have personally seen it. He is set for life but how will he be remembered when our borrowed time is gone?
BT: I'm not exactly sure how much more I could have added to the news of Floyd Mayweather's sentencing than what was already said by Felix Strunk in his article. He beat me to the punch on actually writing the story as I was on the phone gathering other information. Floyd copped a deal for lesser charges, pleaded guilty and got sentenced. That's pretty much the same story that every other site has run with. As far as I know, ESPN.com, Yahoo.com, Boxingscene.com, Fightnews.com, and Maxboxing.com all had one story pertaining to the sentencing, and I don't recall any of them going into lengthy details about domestic violence. I don't think I've ever judged another man, whether it's Mayweather or Pacquiao, for what he's done outside of the ring. I've never spoken on whether or not Pacquiao actually committed infidelity, other than mentioning that there were rumors and allegations about it in the Philippine press. Heck, even when I reported about the news regarding Hatton and De La Hoya's cocaine habits, I never dove into a discussion about the evils of drug abuse. I simply put the information out there, just as Felix Strunk did. Now, if you're looking for Ben Thompson to write something about how this sentencing will impact Floyd's career or a potential showdown with Manny Pacquiao, well my friend, you're getting it in the mailbag. I mean, there's no denying that if you admit to a crime, you're going to do the time, and I've never said that I stand for anything and everything that any fighter does in their life. That being said, fighters are human too and I don't think that I'm in a position to judge someone for something that I wasn't there for. The only thing I can do, however, is talk about how that relates to their career in boxing, which is all I've ever done when I have brought up Manny Pacquiao's accounting situation or Bob Arum's negotiation skills, or lack thereof. I'm not knocking either one of them; I'm just relaying the information as it pertains to events that take place in boxing. The same thing goes for Floyd Mayweather. I'm not going to write an article chastising him because I'm in no position to do something like that. I certainly can, however, discuss how the information relates to his boxing career, and as I said before, I really don't think this will have any major impact on it other than the fact that his return to the ring may be pushed back a month or two.
Your BFF is going to prison! LOL.. What are you going to write about now? Adrian Broner? Just joking Ben, I have been reading all comments made about you being a "bias"writter. The information that you blog about fighters is normally 95% correct whether it's objective or subjective. Keep up the good work.
BT: Actually, yeah! We'll continue to do interviews and write articles about Adrien Broner, Andre Ward, Devon Alexander, Miguel Cotto, Bernard Hopkins, Timothy Bradley, Chad Dawson, Sergio Martinez, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Lamont Peterson, Amir Khan, Andre Berto, Victor Ortiz, Wladimir Klitschko, Vitali Klitschko, Lucian Bute, Carl Froch, Juan Manuel Marquez, and oh yeah, that guy by the name of Manny Pacquiao...and that's just to name a few. It's funny how people seem to forget about all of these other fighters and events that we cover. Go figure! LOL. By the way, for the record, it appears as though we have yet to post a story about Kelly Pavlik's recent DUI arrest. I wonder when all the hate mail will start rolling in talking about our bias towards him.
Expect Manny to fight one of his many options this spring. You can now bet on that. With real "money". And now you know where to get your interviews from Floyd starting January 6th. - Perry Rubenstein
BT: I was already expecting Manny Pacquiao to fight one of his Top Rank options this spring. Actually, I was expecting him to fight Juan Manuel Marquez again on June 9 at Cowboys Stadium. You're right though, spring sounds like the much more likely scenario now. The minute the judge handed down Floyd's sentencing, I'm sure the phone lines of the MGM Execs were ringing off the hook. Despite Bob Arum previously saying that Manny Pacquiao isn't fighting "a Spanish guy" on May 5, I won't be shocked to see that cut miraculously heal up in time for him to face Marquez on Cinco de Mayo. After all, other than the date and venue, it's what I expected all along. As for Floyd, my number won't change, so whenever he has something to say, I'm sure he'll give me a call no matter where he's at. And when he does have something to say, I'm sure you'll be eager to read it.
So I guess Arum is out of the woodshed now that Mayweather is going away for a few months. Care to report on that? - Andrew Fields
BT: Arum was never "in the woodshed". Arum is always going to do and say whatever he wants to do and say, and as usual, no one is going to take him to task for it. I, however, have never had a problem with enlightening fans as to what is really going down. Was that ever going to stop his plans? Of course not, but I do think fans deserve to be told the truth as opposed to being lied to. I would much rather be told, "Hey, we just did great numbers with Marquez and made a boat load of money, so of course we want to do a fourth fight," as opposed to getting my hopes up that he's working on something else. Maybe that's just me though.
Hey Ben, I am a big boxing fan from London, England so it go's without saying, I love fighthype. I also enjoy your articles and your opinions. I'm writing to you to get your opinion on a recent video online which featured Victor Ortiz. He's saying he tried break Floyd Mayweather's nose with that blatant headbutt: http://m.worldstarhiphop.com/video.php?v=wshh7ogbXupTVhKjP96z
According to Ortiz, this was all retaliation for all the elbows Floyd hit him with during their fight. I watch that fight many times and the only thing illegal was the way Ortiz was rubbing he's head in Floyd's face (apart from the headbutt of course)...what do you think??? Thanks for all the hard work you and the rest of the staff at fighthype do, and continue to do so!!! - Darell
BT: Thanks for the support all the way from London, England. If you're on Twitter, make sure you follow my man Scott Smith, @scottsfighthype, who is holding down the UK coverage for the site. I think Ortiz is just saying that to sound like a tough guy. This isn't the first time he's flip-flopped and had a different stories about the headbutt. First he said it was an honest mistake. Then he said it wasy payback for being elbowed. As Ortiz himself would say, whatever bro. The reality is simply that he got frustrated because he couldn't get anything done in there. At a time when he had Mayweather against the ropes, he unleashed a flurry of punches that were all missing and getting blocked, so he got frustrated, lost his cool, and launched himself head first into Mayweather's grill. It wasn't an elbow that caused him to do that; it was simply him getting pissed that he couldn't land anything. Like you said, Ortiz was the one using his head from the get-go, so perhaps he should look in the mirror and ask himself who really was the dirty fighter that night. Thanks again for the support my man. We appreciate it.
Hey Ben what's up. I want to thank you for the "reporting" you've done recently to keep us informed, but I at the same time I have some criticisms. Your bias for Mayweather oozes through your articles. No matter how Much you try ti deny it--It's like your one purpose in fighthype is to praise Mayweather.
You and fighthype need to step up your updates and articles. You have written 5 articles about the new negotiations or lack there of , yet when Mayweather got sentenced you have nothing to say and it takes fighthype a day to report it.
You guys are 6 steps behind boxingscene which actually reports news instead of outright suckin Mayweathers dick and for the most part leaves personal opinions out of their articles. But you have May's number n think it's your claim to fame. - Mike, Brooklyn
BT: Please don't thank me and talk about sucking dick in the same email. It confuses me on whether or not to move your email to the "supporter" or "hater" folder. Guess I'll just have to settle for the "delete" folder. Maybe you missed it, but there was an article up the hour he was sentenced. What is there to say other than what was said in the article? I did voice my opinion on how this might affect his career in the mailbag, however. Why don't you email me about any of the other stuff that goes up on FightHype? It's funny but the only thing you choose to email me about is regarding Floyd Mayweather. Do you even bother to read anything else on the site? Are you sure you're not the one who's sucking his dick? The only thing tiresome is getting an email from someone like yourself. Nobody from FightHype is sending you emails and telling you to visit the site, are they? You choose to do that on your own, and we appreciate you taking the time out of your busy day to do that. If you like what you see, hey, that's great. If you don't, then hey, don't read anymore. That's YOUR choice, not mine, so perhaps you should take a hard look in the mirror and ask yourself why exactly do you feel the need to visit and read. Keep reading though. We appreciate the support.
What are you going to do now that your boyfriend is going to jail!!! You won't be able to suck his cock for 90 days are you sad???? Lol - Chris
BT: What is with all these guys talking about sucking dick? I'll tell you what, just for you, we're shutting the site down.
Feel free to email your questions/comments to bthompson@fighthype.com
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