By Ron Borges, Boston Herald
Boxing’s ability to destroy its image rivals that of Tiger Woods. The only difference is boxing has more practice at it.
For the past decade or so, the men who run the sport have been on a constant campaign of self-immolation, finally doing to boxing what the Mafia could not when they controlled it. They made it irrelevant in the eyes of many sports fans and even more sports editors.
Yet as Bernard Hopkins once said, “As long as you got ghettos, you’ll have boxing,” and so boxing has survived relentless efforts to ruin itself. The past year saw the latest resurgence in interest led by Manny Pacquiao, the Filipino wunderkind who has won world titles in seven weight classes and, before his last fight, was the subject of major features in Time magazine and the New York Times [NYT] - two journalistic entities that long ago forgot the sport existed.
With interest again growing, record numbers were expected to pay to watch a March 13 showdown between Pacquiao and undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr., who was considered the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world until Pacquiao usurped him during Mayweather’s 21-month self-imposed ring exile.
But amid projections of $200 million in revenue, a record live gate at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas and the possibility of shattering the all-time pay-per-view record of 2.44 million buys set by Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya two years ago, the fight collapsed yesterday. Not over greed, which is the usual culprit in boxing, but rather over Pacquiao’s refusal to submit to random drug testing insisted by Mayweather.
The final collapse came after a nine-hour mediation effort Tuesday in which Pacquiao agreed to be tested three times, including immediately after the fight and within 24 days of it. Only problem was the 24-day test is required by the Nevada Athletic Commission and most experts believe random testing is the only way to catch the use of performance-enhancers.
Mayweather refused the proposal, costing each fighter an estimated $30 million to $40 million and leading Pacquiao’s promoter, Bob Arum, to claim Mayweather never wanted the fight.
“Manny accepted what was on the table and Mayweather rejected it,” Arum told ESPN. “(Mayweather manager Al) Haymon and (Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard) Schaefer tried to convince Floyd and he wouldn’t agree to it. . . . He never wanted the fight.”
The mediator, retired judge Daniel Weinstein, issued a statement last night refuting some of Arum’s claims, saying he was forced to do so because both sides agreed to confidentiality and, if it was broken, Weinstein was to set the record straight.
“Various articles have appeared in the press purporting to characterize the substance and outcome of the Mayweather-Pacquiao mediation and the negotiations between the parties,” his statement read. “Many of the reports are incorrect. Any attempt to characterize the mediation process as an acceptance or rejection by any of the parties of a mediator’s or an arbiter’s proposal or of any specific proposal is false. In the end, the parties could not agree on a testing protocol acceptable to all.”
Pacquiao filed a defamation lawsuit last week in U.S. District Court in Nevada against the Mayweather entourage claiming they accused him of using PEDs. Where that will lead no one knows, but if it leads where Roger Clemens ended up, Pacquiao may rue the day he was talked into it.
Mayweather, meanwhile, made his first public pronouncement last night, saying in a statement: “Throughout this whole process I have remained patient, but at this point I am thoroughly disgusted that Pacquiao and his representatives are trying to blame me for the fight not happening when clearly the blame is on them.
“First and foremost, not only do I want to fight Manny Pacquiao, I want to whip his punk ass. Before the mediation, my team proposed a 14-day, no blood testing window leading up to the fight, but it was rejected even though this is obviously a fair compromise on my part as I wanted the testing to be up until the fight and he wanted a 30-day cutoff. The truth is he just doesn’t want to take the tests.”
A fight the world wanted has now become just another war of words that continued when Pacquiao issued a statement insisting it wasn’t his fault even though he’s the one refusing to be tested effectively.
In the wake of this, Arum has proposed Pacquiao fight 154-pound champion Yuri Foreman, while Mayweather may fight ex-140-pound champion Paulie Malignaggi.
To quote Bill Belichick, “Not what we’re looking for.”
rborges@bostonherald.com
Source: news.bostonherald.com
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