Pacquiao giving Mayweather a take it or leave it offer with blood testing?

By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao has been saying recently that he’s willing to accept the blood testing request of 14 days from Floyd Mayweather Jr. for the last negotiations between the two fighters in February of this year. Mayweather hasn’t said a word about whether Pacquiao’s new concession will be acceptable or not and has kept his silence. This in turn has caused Pacquiao to remark to ABS-CBN “I already agreed to 14 days and as long as they don’t draw too much blood but only what is needed for the tests. Fourteen days before the fight.” Unfortunately, Pacquiao’s 14 days might not be good enough for Mayweather this time.

Pacquiao needs to be patient about this if he wants to fight the unbeaten Mayweather. The last thing we need in this process is an ultimatum. It isn’t helped that Pacquiao is suing Mayweather. What is that? You want to fight him, yet you’re suing him? It might be wise to drop the lawsuit. That would be the first step in trying to put the fight together.

During his previous negotiations with Mayweather, Pacquiao stood firm on a 24 day cut off period and then ended negotiations when Mayweather asked for 14 days. It would be sad if Pacquiao digs his heels in the sand and makes 14 days his initial and final offer to Mayweather. Pacquiao and his team need to use more finesse with Mayweather if they want this fight. You have to yourself in his shoes to deal with him. I don’t see that happening here.They need to coax Mayweather’s ego, tell him what he wants to hear and be a chameleon about this. That’s how you’ll get a fight with Floyd, not by pressure.

Given that Mayweather hasn’t said a word about Pacquiao’s 14 day concession, there’s a good chance that he wants more than that before he’ll fight Manny. So instead of complaining about it or blaming Mayweather if the fight doesn’t get made, Pacquiao and his promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank need to decide if they want to go lower than 14 days for the blood testing. If not, then they should move on and fight their back up plan fighter Antonio Margarito or the winner of the June 5th clash between Yuri Foreman and Miguel Cotto.

None of those fights appeal to me in the slightest, but then again their all Top Rank fighters, so I can see the attraction for Arum to match Pacquiao against one of them. Cotto already got stomped by Pacquiao last year in November. It would be sad to see Pacquiao ending his career facing him again, even if Cotto beats the little known Foreman and take his WBA title. There’s got to be better options out there for Pacquiao’s final fight, don’t you think? I’d rather see Pacquiao fight Sergio Martinez or Amir Khan rather than fight Margarito in Mexico or go over old ground and fight Cotto.

I don’t know how on earth they could sell a second fight between Cotto and Pacquiao. With only fight in between his 12th round knockout loss to Pacquiao, Cotto wouldn’t have done much to rebuild himself with the boxing fans. Beating Foreman seems like a careful matchmaking move because Foreman can’t punch. Ideally, I think Arum and Pacquiao need to get together and agree to whatever blood testing that Mayweather wants. He’s not going to give in this and complaining about it and trying to get the boxing public to support him on the 14 stance won’t likely work for Pacquiao.

Mayweather can’t be pressured at this point, because he just showed the world how good he is by dominating Shane Mosley in a 12 round decision. Right now, Mayweather is immune from pressure and ultimatums. This is why it’s up to Pacquiao to either agree to the further testing that Mayweather likely wants or just move on. If it was me, I’d make up my mind whether I wanted to be tested all the way up until the fight. If I couldn’t, I’d move on and fight someone else. I wouldn’t complain about it, because I would know that it wouldn’t make a difference anyway. But I would also look to fight some other guys rather than the ones that have been offered up to me by my promoter. Like I said, I’d rather see Pacquiao fight Khan or Sergio Martinez rather than watching a second fight between Cotto or watching Pacquiao fight Margarito.