During Monday’s broadcast of “First Take” on ESPN2, co-host Skip Bayless gave his reaction to the announcement of the long awaited boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao for May 2.
According to Bayless, Pacquiao dared Mayweather so much for so long that Mayweather had no choice but to fight him in order to protect his legacy.
“Finally, after Manny Pacquiao campaigned for this fight for five long years. After Manny offered every compromise on Earth for five long years. After Manny publicly dared and dared and dared Floyd may or may not weather to take this fight. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. finally quit running because he was shamed into taking this fight, and I want to thank you, my brother, my ‘First Take’ partner, my better half, if you will. I want to thank you for helping me shame Floyd may or may not weather into taking this fight because in the end he had no choice. You finally came around over the last month or so, couple of months, and you finally started saying, ‘Floyd is looking worse and worse.’ Obviously his credibility and his legacy were beginning to teeter. So, in the end Floyd Mayweather, he was going to be damned if he did or damned if he didn’t. He was facing a couple more easy fights finishing 49-0 and retiring with a big, bad asterisk on his record because he ran and ran and ran from Manny Pacquiao. Or he could go ahead, suck it up, and fight the fighter that he clearly is still afraid of, to me. He could fight Manny and face 47-1, which is what he’s about to experience.”
Bayless also added, “He is still afraid of Manny Pacquiao, and I can tell you via a source in Manny’s camp, Manny is still extremely extremely confident he cannot just beat Floyd Mayweather; he can knock him out. So in the end, Floyd knows in his heart of hearts what’s coming, but Floyd had no choice. He had to fight him or risk tarnishing forever his legacy.”
Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent
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