Pacman and Mayweather fail to agree drug tests so fight is off
So the much anticipated fight between Manny Pacquaio and Floyd Mayweather Jnr for March 13th is now definitely off. Whose fault is it?
We now know that the fight will now certainly not be going ahead on March 13th and there has been a lot of speculation about who is to blame.
Some people think Floyd is to blame, some think Manny and some think Golden Boy, Bob Arum or Floyd Senior.
It's not quite black and white but it seems clear that the blame is down to the Mayweathers. Floyd Snr has started out with baseless accusations that Manny has done so well recently rising through the weights that he must be taking performance enhancing drugs. Cheap accusations with no foundation whatsoever.
True, Manny had risen through the weights and constantly been impressive but so has Floyd Jnr and countless other fighters in the past. Manny is happy to follow the rules of any of the governing bodies or state commissions and is even prepared to go further and do extra drugs tests but he doesn't have to agree to the Mayweathers every demand. Specifically potentially being blood tested right up to the fight is excessive testing when as an athlete you are trying to be in your optimal physical and mental state going into the fight.
Not everyone handles blood tests well and I'm sure there are many people who feel weakened after giving blood. Manny doesn't like giving blood and I can empathise with this since I hate giving blood myself. Manny tried to make it happen but the Mayweather camp were too stubborn.
Accusing somebody of something with no foundation, no evidence is completely wrong since when rumours start some people believe them, and Manny is no more likely than Mayweather or any other top fighter to be taking performance enhancing drugs.
I think on reflection Mayweather may decide to take the fight later in the year, assuming he compromises on his strict blood test requests, and assuming both fighters remain unbeaten. Pacman has a tough fight coming up now against Clottey and it could now be possible that Mayweather may fight Mosley. However, there is the stumbling block of testing here as well since Mosley has taken steroids before, but he may agree to tests anyway.
Let's see what happens.............
For a full detailed article on the whole Pacman-Mayweather-PEDs issue read this excellent article by Thomas Hauser on SecondsOut.com.