Video: Pacquiao vs Marquez and Mayweather Discussed on ESPN First Take

It's sometimes useful to hear the opinions of those who don't follow boxing all that closely. I mean, I have no doubt that Skip Bayless pays a little attention to, you know, Pacquiao and Mayweather, but I don't think he gets the significance of anything else they do, or hears about ALL of the other stuff going on. So when Skip says, "I think Mayweather's afraid of Pacquiao," I think that means something because it's probably far closer to the reality of mainstream America's view of the fight than, you know, what you might read here, where every little detail is covered and we've gone over every single thing.

I also don't think that Bayless' assumption that Mayweather watched Pacquiao's lackluster win over Mosley and got more scared than ever is even remotely correct. Maybe Bayless didn't see that as the fight where Pacquiao showed some decline from previous performances, but it seems like many diehard fans saw it exactly that way. In fact, many felt after that it might have been the perfect fight for Mayweather to finally sign to fight Pacquiao, as Pacquiao had shown some vulnerability and weakness.

Fabolous says that he doesn't want to see Mayweather fight anybody but Pacquiao, and something has to be done. Jalen Rose doesn't think the fight will happen, and of the three I think he might be the biggest boxing fan. Then we get the phrase, "The pay-per-view ticket number." And then I realize, hey, I'm watching four guys who barely understand their topic of discussion.

And that's when I realize, hey, this really isn't all that useful to me at all.