Pacquiao should not dignify Mayweather

Boxing fans may be forgiven for now demanding that Manny Pacquiao should next fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. As boxing fans, all they can see is boxing. And admittedly, there is no greater boxing fight left out there for Pacquiao than against May-weather.

Seen strictly from that viewpoint, that fight should happen. But as Pacquiao him-self said after beating Antonio Margarito -- if the fight happens, he is not one to stop it from happening. But he no longer needs a Mayweather to establish who he is in the sport of boxing.

So, if I were Pacquiao, I would hang up my gloves now. I am in the peak of my career. I own a record that is next to impossible to break. I am rich beyond my wildest imagination. I have the respect of the world and the love of my countrymen. And I am in good health.

The clamor for more fights, particularly against Mayweather, is being made by boxing fans only because they naturally thirst for fights. Strike Pacquiao out of the equa-tion, and they will still clamor for great fights, from the next great boxer who comes along.

You see, there will never be any end to fight questions for as long as the sport of boxing exists. And it is not up to any one particular boxer to answer all of them. It would be a folly to even try.

Indeed, just by coming up with a list of potential adversaries for Pacquiao -- from Mayweather to Juan Manuel Marquez -- already betrays a certain greediness among box-ing fans to think only of their own satisfaction.

Juan Manuel Marquez? What unanswered questions are boxing fans dreaming about that only a supposed third installment of a potential trilogy can answer? Marquez never won against Pacquiao in the two times they met, so what can a third fight achieve except satisfy some greedy thirst?

And Mayweather? The loudmouth has been avoiding a fight with Pacquiao ever since it became clear that such a fight may cost him the first blemish on his unbeaten re-cord. Mayweather prefers to keep his record clean by fighting with his mouth.

Besides, recent events that have happened to both Mayweather and Pacquiao would show why it is no longer in the best interests of Pacquiao, and even to the sport of boxing itself, for a fight with Mayweather to happen.

In his fight against Margarito, the whole world saw the kind of character the Fili-pino boxer had. By asking the referee to check if the Mexican fighter can go on, and for deliberately holding back more punishment for his bloodied opponent, Pacquiao earned the respect of everyone.

Compare this with the latest antics of Mayweather, interestingly, just two days after the Pacquiao-Margarito fight -- a Las Vegas security guard called police on the night of November 15 after Mayweather struck him in the face.

According to reports, the guard was hired to patrol the exclusive and gated community in Las Vegas where Mayweather lived. The guard pulled up at Mayweather's home to inquire about a parking situation when the boxing champ, irked by the effront-ery, allegedly punched him.

The guard reported the incident to the police. When they came and knocked on Mayweather's door, he not only refused to answer, he reportedly refused to allow them to enter, leaving police with no choice but to leave and turn over the case to the district at-torney's office.

But that is just the tip of the iceberg. Mayweather was recently arrested and charged in connection with an incident in September in which he allegedly beat up a for-mer girlfriend, stole her expensive cellphone, and threatened to beat up their two chil-dren.

In all, Mayweather is said to be facing felony counts of coercion, robbery, grand larceny -- as well as four misdemeanors which, if convicted on all of the charges, could send the boxer to a maximum of 28 years behind bars.

Also in September, he released an online video of himself ranting against Pac-quiao and hurling racist expletives against the Filipino boxer and other Asians in general. And this is the man boxing fans want Pacquiao to fight? What for?