Monday, 25 October 2010

Team Pacquiao takes big hit on HBO's 24/7 -- Examiner

By Vivek Wallace, Examiner.com

HBO's award winning 24/7 documentary series kicked off last Saturday night for the pending showdown between fightin' Filipino Manny Pacquiao and Mexican warrior Antonio Margarito.

With the recent suspension and subsequent licensing of Margarito, as well as questions surrounding his selection as Pacquiao's opponent for the vacant WBC jr. middleweight strap, several backdrops and subplots loom large.

With a number of those subplots attracting heavy attention over the course of the half hour show, one particular clip proved quite damaging, while raising questions about the integrity of Pacquiao and his handlers.

24/7: Living It Up and Doubling DownFor months, the world of boxing sat and held it's collective breath waiting for some type of agreement between co-pound-4-pound contenders Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather jr. After several open air statements through the media, a Top Rank website imposed 'countdown', and many other attempts to place blame on the other party, many walked away feeling that Floyd Mayweather jr. had simply 'punked out' and opted not to face Pacquiao.

When pressed on the issue directly, Top Rank leader, Bob Arum, stated that he "could not get into details", while several other Pacquiao team members - to include Freddie Roach - decided to openly state that "all terms had been met", yet Mayweather decided to "vacation" rather than take the fight.

The silence of Team Mayweather throughout this process led most to assume the non-response was simply an admission of guilt, considering that there was no true effort to clear the air and let their story be known.

In an interview conducted with Jeff Mayweather on July 28th, details of information presented to me by several sources was confirmed. This info was a concession that team Pacquiao in fact never agreed to full-scale randomized steroid testing until the day of the fight like many of their representitives led the public to believe.

For the first time, Team Pacquiao has openly admitted this, as advisor Michael Koncz stated on HBO's 24/7 in absolute terms that Team Pacquiao "would not agree to be tested within 7 days of the fight".

In an era of the sport that frequently lacks integrity, this move was applaudable, as Koncz set the record straight, despite the flack he knows will be sure to come.

As Team Pacquiao prepares for another legendary night, they will do so knowing that this public admission of guilt may very well set an inescapable tone going into the one that hopefully awaits......and I'm sure you all know which "one" that is! Stay tuned.

Source: examiner.com

1 comment:

  1. Your conclusion that there is "public admission of guilt" based on the premise that "Koncz would not agree to a testing within 7 days" is faulty, clearly biased, and nothing but speculation, if not a twisting of facts.

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