By David Mayo, The Grand Rapids Press
You might think someone will blink, and that either Floyd Mayweather’s camp will relent on this blood feud, or Manny Pacquiao’s camp will relent and allow a few pinpricks so everyone can bleed money.
Of course, that assumes common sense prevails, which isn’t always the case in boxing.
Money usually does prevail, however, and if Mayweather-Pacquiao actually does disintegrate over a disagreement in how to administer random drug tests, it would be a bigger upset than the night Buster Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson.
Happy Holidays, sports fans. The prettiest package under your tree just got smashed to smithereens.
And the discussion of who did the smashing is well under way.
At issue is that the Mayweather wanted to ensure that Pacquiao doesn’t use performance-enhancing drugs via Olympic-style, random blood testing, administered by either the U.S. Anti-Doping Association, or an independent laboratory using the same technology.
Pacquiao agreed to two blood tests -- one at the beginning of training camp in January, then again at the fight site -- and urine sampling in between.
When neither side would budge, the accusations flew.
Pacquaio’s promoter, Bob Arum, and trainer, Freddie Roach, claim Mayweather is looking for a way out of the fight. Mayweather, in a statement, said he merely wants to ensure a level playing field, while his adviser, Leonard Ellerbe, said he can’t believe Pacquiao would let the fight fall apart over blood testing, and his father, Floyd Mayweather Sr., said this validates his performance-enhancing charges against Pacquiao.
At the core of this fallout were two egregious demands, one by each side, that were the final sticking points in a fight which had an agreed-upon date (March 13), site (MGM Grand in Las Vegas), weight limit (147 pounds) and financial split (50-50):
• One, Pacquiao demanded a usurious $10 million payment to the offended fighter if either man came in even a fraction heavier than 147 pounds. That demand was based on Mayweather paying $600,000 to Juan Manuel Marquez after weighing 146 pounds for a September fight.
Of course, that ignores that the real weight limit for Mayweather-Marquez was, in fact, 147, but with a contractual stipulation for a $300,000 payment for each pound heavier than 144. Mayweather abided by the weight restrictions in a screwball contract, just as he has for all his professional fights. Faced with Pacquiao’s enormous penalty requirement, Mayweather agreed.
• Two, Mayweather demanded both fighters submit to USADA-style random blood testing, obviously based on the performance-enhancement charges first raised by his father.
Pacquiao has passed urine screens -- including for steroids -- in all of his previous post-fight testing in Nevada, and has complied completely with that state commission’s policy. Keith Kizer, the commission executive director, said that body would continue to enforce its own testing, but that additional testing could be negotiated by the parties.
Faced with Mayweather’s over-the-top drug-testing demand, Pacquiao refused and, as of now, the fight will not happen.
The concern in the Mayweather camp is that if Pacquiao only submits to blood testing in January and March, he would have two months to engorge performance-enhancers that can be masked from urine detection -- primarily HGH and the synthetic blood-boosting hormone EPO -- but easily be detected in blood sampling.
The concern on Pacquiao’s side is that Mayweather’s demand is nothing but a way to “harass” its fighter, Arum said. Roach claimed Pacquiao would feel “weakened” by frequent blood testing.
Both concerns can be dismissed as absolutely ludicrous: Pacquiao supporters say Mayweather is trying to weasel out of the fight or create a built-in excuse if he loses; Mayweather supporters say it’s absurd to think a little drawn blood would weaken anyone and Pacquiao’s non-compliance merely heightens speculation about him.
Whether the fight can be pulled back together will require concession, although this issue has been on the table two weeks, and neither side has blinked.
Time is running out.
The fight looks dead. And regardless whom you support, you can find plenty of blame to spread around.
E-mail David Mayo at dmayo@grpress.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/David_Mayo
Source: mlive.com
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