Though the frustration, skepticism and finger pointing over the failed negotiations for a bout between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao haven't totally subsided, the dark cloud is starting to lift. At least there's something to look forward to.
Pacquiao will defend his WBO welterweight title against Joshua Clottey on March 13 at Cowboys Stadium, and Mayweather has signed to fight WBA welterweight champion Shane Mosley on May 1 in Las Vegas.
Meanwhile, Roy Jones Jr. and Bernard Hopkins finally will stage a rematch on April 3 to settle their 17-year-old feud, and Kelly Pavlik will defend his middleweight title against Sergio Martinez on April 17 in Atlantic City.
The case can be made boxing is picking itself off the canvas.
Now only if the blood-testing controversy would go away. The 800-pound elephant is out of the barn, and the issue isn't going away anytime soon. Though Mosley has agreed to Mayweather's demand for random blood testing, the issue didn't come up in the talks for Jones-Hopkins II, even though Jones tested positive for steroids after a fight in 2000 with Richard Hall in Indianapolis and Hopkins is a 45-year-old marvel who seemingly is defying age. If there is suspicion about Pacquiao, why shouldn't there be suspicion about Jones or Hopkins?
"Why would we need all that? We didn't do that the first time," Jones said of the lack of testing. "If he is doing something because he's 45 years old, I'm still going to beat him. He could have been doing it the first time. Who knows? I'm still going to beat him so it doesn't matter to me. That's how much better than him I think I am."
Richard Schaefer, the CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, represented Mayweather in his failed negotiations with Pacquiao and acted as the mediator in talks between Mosley, a Golden Boy partner, and Mayweather. Schaefer hopes the controversy about blood testing begins to quiet down.
"I do believe the time is here to introduce blood testing to the sport of boxing, but it's not up to me," Schaefer said. "I'm not the commissioner. If a fighter asks for specific contractual deal terms as far as blood testing or the size of the ring or the gloves, they basically become contractual deal points.
"It's too bad [Mayweather-Pacquiao] didn't happen, but the world goes on. We should all take a step back and stop talking about Mayweather and Pacquiao. Let's focus on [Mayweather-Mosley]. Who knows? Maybe down the road that other fight is going to happen. Maybe it won't. The fact is boxing goes on."
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Jones said he likely will retire at the end of this year. "I'll do it this year and probably call it a day," he said. Some would suggest Jones should have retired in 2004 when he was knocked out in back-to-back fights with Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson. Six years later, he's coming off a first-round TKO defeat to Danny Green last December in Australia, making Jones 5-5 in his past 10 bouts, including three losses by knockout.
"Had I got knocked out and stayed down, I would have been concerned," Jones said. "But I've got two knock downs and a knockout. The first [Antonio] Tarver knockdown I got up. They just stopped the fight. The only time I got knocked out was against Glen Johnson and my body was totally dehydrated then. If I was getting knocked out every time or every time I got hit in the gym I was getting hurt, I wouldn't be out there. I wouldn't waste my time fighting. But that's not the case."
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Spike TV will broadcast "Facing Ali" at 9 p.m. Monday. The documentary delves into the life of Muhammad Ali through the eyes of 10 fighters who faced him in the ring, including Joe Frazier, George Foreman and Larry Holmes.
george.willis@nypost.com
Source: nypost.com
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