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Friday, January 8, 2010

Mayweather-Pacquiao: It’s Off – Breaking News!

by Jason Alcairo: According to news from Yahoo sports and as also reported in the Las Vegas Review Journal, the oft-cancelled potential mega fight between top ranked Pound for Pound fighters world Boxing Organization welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr is once again off. Mediation went on for 9 hours yesterday but no conclusion was reached and this morning, neither fighter was present at the actual mediation. A revised proposal was given to both fighters, with Mayweather being the one to disagree. The stipulations in the new proposal is at the time unknown.

The underlying issue was the drug testing demands of Floyd Mayweather Jr. The former top rated fighter in the world wanted random blood tests of the Filipino champion based pretty much entirely on the suspicions of Floyd Mayweather Sr. and despite him never failing a drug test. Though they would both be going through the same tests, Pacquiao would only agree to 3 blood tests and unlimited urine tests.

This leaves both fighters to take on 2 opponents in the meanwhile until they can decide when they finally want to get together and fight. Pacquiao is more than likely going to be taking a fight with WBA Jr Middleweight champion Yuri Foreman, with Mayweather potentially facing either Matthew Hatton of the UK (chuckle) or former IBF Jr. welterweight champ Paulie Malignaggi.

Many boxing fans feel that the blood test demand by Mayweather is unwarranted. What is also grinding the gears of the same fans is that Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer gave very vocal support to the blood tests after refusing to agree to Shane Mosley undergoing blood tests for a potential fight against Zab Judah that never materialized in 2008. According to a press release at the time, Pacquiao can be found in an interview following his 2005 loss to Erik Morales discussing the mental effects of having his blood drawn within 48 hours of the bout. According to him, he was informed that his blood documentation had been lost and he would have to give another sample.Having his blood removed in such an artificial way left him feeling weak. Even Morales had said that his punches didn’t hurt after beating Pacquiao by decision.This lead to the disagreement between the frequency and cutoff date for the blood tests.

This author’s personal opinion is riddled with frustration and a little bit of confusion. First off, if this is some sort of terribly conceived plan to keep on hyping up the fight, I’d rather they didn’t. This fight has continually demonstrated that it sells itself. If the lawsuit or PED allegations were meant to increase the drama, then I would consider it overkill. However, if this fight really, really, REALLY is off, then the lawsuit should go on as planned. Manny’s honor was besmirched by baseless accusations, and no, he doesn’t have anything to hide by refusing to take the tests no matter what the Floyd fan boys tell you. Manny’s refusal to test isn’t an attempt to hide any potential chemical transgressions so much as it’s his way of standing his ground and refusing to bend to Mayweather’s will and demands. All too often, people will throw the basic right to innocence until proven guilty out the window. The Mayweathers haven’t so much as presented a single shred of evidence to support their allegations, and the minute that the whispers of steroid use surround an athlete,the results could be costly. Pacquiao wasn’t like a baseball player who could barely hit the fence and then suddenly started crushing balls over the stadium walls left and right. He stopped shrinking himself down to make the lower weights and trained himself against pain while fully optimizing his body’s ability to produce his destruction of Ricky Hatton last May and Miguel Cotto in November. Simply put, Pacquiao is a killing machine powered by rice and fish.

Mayweather’s refusal to accept any sort of compromise leads me to believe that his 0 truly is more important to him than 40+ million dollars. To think that both sides have been capable of blowing through several months of anticipation with nothing to show for it is downright aggravating. I hope Pacquiao would pick a better opponent than Foreman,but perhaps in the future he can take on the winner of Mosley-Berto.

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