Forget about Pacquiao-Mayweather Jr. Dream Match in 2009

Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s injury has been identified. “Money” has been reported to have damaged cartilage in his ribs and will not be able to train for his comeback fight against Juan Manuel Marquez until approved by a doctor. Contrary to previous reports however, Floyd doesn’t have a broken rib, but the injury he sustained is serious just the same. Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo injured his rib cartilage during the team's final game against the Philadelphia Eagles last year, when Romo fumbled and was sacked then benched. His coach Wade Phillips said a flare-up of the pain caused Romo to collapse in the shower afterward.

Richard Schaefer, chief executive of Golden Boy Promotions, told The Associated Press on Monday that Mayweather has been in tremendous pain since suffering the injury during training on Thursday.

"He tried to work through it. He really did not want to postpone the fight, but it came to the point where he could barely sit," Schaefer said. "He could not train, he could not move and there was really not much of a choice."

Mayweather (39-0, 25 KOs) was scheduled to fight Juan Manuel Marquez (50-4-1, 37 KOs) on July 18 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas but because of the injury, had to postpone the fight.

Schaefer said both fighters have agreed and intend to reschedule their fight to somewhere around September if they can get a “go” from the doctors by then. Some have speculated that the silent response from fight fans in the box office contributed to the postponement of the fight and that promoters will move the fight to a more favorable, later day date like the Mexican Independence day around August to help sell tickets. Golden Boy and the Mayweather camp insists though that it’s Floyd’s physical condition that is stopping the fight from happening at the originally scheduled July 18 date. Cartilage connects the ribs to the sternum, and can tear away after direct blows to the chest, other trauma or particularly violent coughs and sneezes.

"Right now he cannot go and train, he cannot work out, he cannot run, he cannot hit the heavy bag and the speed bags and jump ropes and all these kinds of things," Schaefer said. "He definitely will need some additional training but again, Floyd is such an amazing athlete and really on top of his game — that I think it will be relatively easy for him to get right back into it."

If all of these reports are indeed 100% true then it’s safe to say that the dream match everyone has been clamoring for between Floyd and Manny Pacquiao will definitely not happen this year. With Pacquiao’s desire to run in his country’s 2010 political race, and speculations abound about his retirement after one last fight, there’s a big possibility that if the fight does not happen in 2009, that it may never happen at all.

There are still a lot of factors though and anything can happen, so I’m leaving my doors and windows open for a fight between Floyd and Manny to happen- I’m just not counting on it. As of now, Pacquiao looks like he’s ready to face Miguel Cotto on November 14 and Golden Boy promotions seems to be intent on shoving Shane Mosley some way some how in Pacquiao's throat. Once Floyd realizes that he isn't as big as he thinks he is and Bob Arum and Pacquiao come up with a reasonable cut for Floyd to bite, then the dream match fans have been asking for with remain just that. Here's hoping this won't end up like the Roy Jones Jr.-Bernard Hopkins rematch saga.

As a fight fan, I’d rather Pacquiao fight Cotto though, since Cotto is the younger fighter and holds a win over Mosley himself. Cotto’s lone loss also has an asterisk on it since the guy he lost to, Antonio Margarito, got busted for juicing up his fists in his next fight. A fight against Cotto will make better sense for Pacquiao financially too since both of them are under the same promotional company, Top Rank. Pacquiao can even try and demand for the fight to happen in his hometown in Manila if he truly wants to boost his political chances. At the end of the day, I just hope Floyd and Manny meets on top of the ring eventually.It’s the fight that makes the most sense cause honestly, either of them can fight Marquez and Cotto next, but what the world wants is to see Mayweather and Pacquiao now.

Source: examiner.com