It May Be Late But It Will Finally Happen

The fight for the ages is finally set, Floyd Mayweather Jr. versus Manny Pacquiao on May 2 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

After years of blaming each other and coming up with reasons not to fight the talk is finally done, the time and place is set and we will see who unifies the Welterweight world titles (Mayweather- WBA & WBC and Pacquiao WBO). Most will agree that this fight is probably 5 years to late but it will still be entertaining to see how it all goes down.

Mayweather collectors are very limited in their options with a handful of cards in various Brown’s Boxing, Ringside and Sportkings releases. Pacquiao collectors on the other hand have more options with Pacman appearing in a number of Topps releases over the past 4 years, which include official autographs.

The Future Of Manny Pacquiao

For so many years Manny Pacquiao seemed almost unstoppable, since he began his 1995 he has been dominating. Over the next 16 years he went 54-3-2 and had won 11 different titles in 8 weight classes. The past 6 months have been a different story; while the whole world seemed to be impatiently waiting for a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight to materialize Pac-man has slipped and has lost two in row including losing the WBO Welterweight belt to Timothy Bradley in June.  To be fair the Bradley fight was beyond questionable, when the WBO decides that an investigation needs to be done you know there is corruption among the judges.

 

Even with a career that spans 17 years there are very few Pac-man cards available, it was not until 2011 that he made his first appearance in a major brand when Topps included him on the checklist for 2011 Topps Allen & Ginters. Since then he has appeared in a handful of Topps sets and in two of Leaf’s cut signature sets this year.

 

With the recent losses we have to wonder if he will begin to contemplate retirement and move on to other interests, he is a Congressman in the Philippine House of Representatives and a Lieutenant Colonel in the Philippine Army Reserves.

 

His card prices range greatly from a couple of dollars to a couple of thousand dollars but if you scan through the listings you will notice that there is not much activity on his cards, I can actually find only one card with a bid and it is only a $1 A&G mini. I am sure if he were to remain fighting and he returns to his winning ways we will see a surge in the prices but at this point where he stands in uncertainty prices will probably remain stagnant or even drop.

 

Will There Ever Be Love For Boxers?

After tonight’s Manny Pacquiao-Sugar Shane Mosley fight, which Pacman won in a 12 round decision, it got me thinking about the boxing collecting world. It seems like up until recently the sport has not had much love and honestly the major card companies are still not even really looking in that direction.

Besides Leaf’s 2011 Muhammad Ali release and Creative Cardboards 2010 Ringside Boxing release is there even anything on the horizon? Besides a possible 2012 Muhammad Ali set from Leaf I do not even hear any rumblings.

 Now we do see some companies cherry pick boxers like Topps is including 3 boxers autographs in their 2011 Allen & Ginters release (Pacquiao, Jake LaMotta and Micky Ward) but they are also including ice dancers, a Parkour runner and a couple of chefs in the autographs insert so it seems like they are just grabbing people now. Hell they put employee cards in last year's set, what is next on the checklist, the delivery guy's worn sweat socks relics?

I think part of the problem may be that there are multiple boxing organizations (WBO, WBA, WBC and IBO among others) so I am not sure how a card designer would work this, would they have to sign each organization as well as individual boxers? I guess that could make for a logistical nightmare.