Official Mayeather vs Pacquiao March 13th
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By Mark Vester
Top Ranks Bob Arum told the Manila Bulletin on Monday that Manny Pacquiaos 2010 debut would fall in the second week of March. The working date of March 13 is being tossed around. Arum warned that Pacquiao, and everyone else, should not look past the November 14 clash with WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto.
If Pacquiao is able to beat Cotto, Arum told the paper that he plans to begin negotiations with Mayweathers camp. If Arum is unable to reach a deal within a few weeks, he plans to find another opponent for Pacquiao. The negotiations are going to be very tough. Both Pacquiao and Mayweather have taken a hard line with the money. Both are asking for a bulk of the money. Both of them have refused a 50-50 split.
Man, if this fight did happen, it would generate a shit load of money. It would be considered as one of the biggest fight in recent years. I hope it does happen and they negotiate the money problem.
Top Ranks Bob Arum told the Manila Bulletin on Monday that Manny Pacquiaos 2010 debut would fall in the second week of March. The working date of March 13 is being tossed around. Arum warned that Pacquiao, and everyone else, should not look past the November 14 clash with WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto.
If Pacquiao is able to beat Cotto, Arum told the paper that he plans to begin negotiations with Mayweathers camp. If Arum is unable to reach a deal within a few weeks, he plans to find another opponent for Pacquiao. The negotiations are going to be very tough. Both Pacquiao and Mayweather have taken a hard line with the money. Both are asking for a bulk of the money. Both of them have refused a 50-50 split.
Man, if this fight did happen, it would generate a shit load of money. It would be considered as one of the biggest fight in recent years. I hope it does happen and they negotiate the money problem.
Mayweather moves, but fight no closer
By Dan Rafael
There was movement by the Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao camps Saturday in the battle over how to handle drug testing for their tentative March 13 super fight, but the sides remain at a stalemate in an increasingly nasty negotiation that threatens a fight many predict would be the highest-grossing bout in history.
With all of the other points agreed to for the blockbuster HBO PPV welterweight title bout at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, the drug testing protocol is the final sticking point.
Mayweather -- whose father, Floyd Mayweather Sr., has accused Pacquiao of using performance-enhancing substances without any proof -- had been demanding the inflexible Olympic-style testing conducted by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. That would mean Mayweather and Pacquiao would be subject to random blood and urine tests all the way up to the fight and immediately following it.
Pacquiao objected, in part, because he and his team want assurances that testing would be cut off at a predetermined time before the fight.
Mayweather changed his stance Saturday, moving off the hard line he had taken on using USADA as the testing agency.
"We are OK to move off USADA," Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, who is representing Mayweather, told ESPN.com. "What we're saying, and what is important to us, is four things -- that the tests be random, that they include blood and urine and the time frame, meaning when do you stop the tests before the fight but know they will still be effective. Three of them we have agreed on -- random, blood and urine. So now it is a matter of the two sides working out the specifics of the cutoff date to assure it will still be effective."
Schaefer said those talks are taking place between Bruce Binkow, a high-level Golden Boy executive, and Todd duBoef, the president of Top Rank, Pacquiao's promoter.
"Todd and Bruce are trying to work out the specifics of the cutoff to assure the tests are still effective because we know that 30 days before is not effective," Schaefer said. "At 30 days, we might as well not even do it. We want to figure it out [the cutoff window] and I will give my recommendation to Team Mayweather, and they will be on board. USADA is the most recognized one, but if it's another one, like the Nevada commission, we don't really care. I don't care who performs the tests as long as they are performed. That's our position. If this fight doesn't happen it's not because of Team Mayweather."
Pacquiao agreed to unlimited urine testing and at least three blood tests, one in early January around the time of the kickoff news conference, one 30 days before the fight and another in the dressing room after the fight. When Mayweather was insisting on USADA, Top Rank chief Bob Arum said Pacquiao was willing to revisit the number of tests as long as they used some other agency, one with which they could negotiate the protocol and assure Pacquiao that he would at least not be tested in the middle of the night or in the few days leading up to the bout.
On Friday, Arum said their side was willing to sit down with Golden Boy and the Nevada State Athletic Commission to work out the details of the testing. Nevada only requires a prefight and a postfight urine test, although it could also test blood if the sides asked.
But on Saturday, Arum, speaking from his vacation in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, backtracked, saying even the three tests were out the window -- unless Nevada asked for them, which Arum knows is unlikely.
"Our position is that since the fight would be in Nevada, let [the Mayweather side] make any petition it wants to the commission," Arum said. "We wash our hands of it. If the commission wants to take blood, fine. We don't care. But we're not going to pander to this petty bull---- about how many days before the fight they can test and so forth. Who are they [Golden Boy] to tell Manny what he's supposed to do? How many times did [Golden Boy boss] Oscar De La Hoya ever give blood before a fight? I will not let this kid get pushed around.
"If they go to the commission and they ask for blood tests and the commission says yes, we will do whatever the commission says. The commission says blood testing, we'll do blood testing. We're not going to help it or oppose it. We're not going to give any credence to this nonsense. They want to sign a contract under the rules of the commission, fine. We don't want the fight if it means Manny is going to be pushed around. Let the commission tell us how many days in front they want blood. Let the commission pick a date to stop taking blood. We trust the commission. Blood testing we think is unnecessary, but fine, we'll do it. But let the commission set the parameters. Let Golden Boy approach the commission and say we want to take blood when he's walking into the ring. Whatever the commission wants to do we will support, but we won't take part in this exercise in nonsense, a procedure which is contrary to how boxing has been conducted in Nevada for 40 years. The burden is not on us to tell the commission what to do."
Arum's appeal for the commission to handle matters may be hollow because although it has protocols in place for random urine testing during training camps, it doesn't for blood testing, and to put it in place in time for a March 13 fight is unlikely, according to Keith Kizer, the executive director of the Nevada commission.
"We're very confident that urine tests by themselves cover everything that needs to be covered, but if the camps want to do additional testing through a third party they are welcome to, as long as they also adhere to commission rules," Kizer told ESPN.com. "Urine testing we could run with today. We could test their urine every day from now until March 13. But blood testing is trickier because we don't require it. If the commission wanted to change the rule it would have to be at a public meeting and, at the earliest, that would be early to mid-January. We have done some urine testing during training camps. We have those protocols in place. Blood testing is a different story.
"We'd have to put it on a commission agenda. Golden Boy or Top Rank or both could ask for blood testing and we'd look into it. Whether it would go anywhere, that's up to the commission to decide. As of now, there are no plans for a special commission meeting, nor has one been requested from either side."
The promoters and HBO hoped to have the fight signed and formally announced at a news conference the first week of January. If they can't iron out the particulars on blood testing until a commission meeting, likely around Jan. 13, it would make finalizing the bout unlikely until at least then.
Schaefer believes that Arum's position of leaving it up to the commission is him "moving the goal post."
"The pressure is on Pacquiao," he said. "They keep moving the goal post like they did with the $10 million weight penalty [if either fighter is over the contract maximum 147 pounds], which we agreed to. They didn't think we would accept that. When we did, they had to find something else to make into a problem. So now they're saying it's up to the commission instead of wanting to negotiate the drug testing with us. I don't want to hear that if the fight breaks up it was because of us. When they came to us with a $10 million weight penalty, they didn't expect us to say yes. They thought we'd say no. So when we said yes, they had to come up with something else. Now we're off USADA, and they are going to come and say only urine testing if that's what the commission says. It's really frustrating.
"We are making compromises. It's a two-way street. If they back off again, I will shut off my phone and spend the rest of the Christmas and New Year's time with my family, and good luck to all of these fools."
While Arum is making plans for an alternative fight for Pacquiao against former junior welterweight titlist Paulie Malignaggi -- who has also accused Pacquiao of using PEDs -- if the Mayweather fight falls apart, Schaefer said he hasn't discussed an alternative with Mayweather.
"We haven't discussed anybody else because the fight we want to bring to the fight fans is the one with Pacquiao," he said. "The focus is on getting Mayweather-Pacquiao done while Bob is making calls everywhere on the Malignaggi fight. That shows his focus is not on Mayweather.
"How ridiculous is that that Pacquiao would go and fight the guy who makes accusations that he uses performance-enhancing drugs instead of Mayweather [Jr.], who didn't make those accusations? Something is not right. I don't know how to explain it other than maybe Pacquiao doesn't want the Mayweather fight."
By Dan Rafael
There was movement by the Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao camps Saturday in the battle over how to handle drug testing for their tentative March 13 super fight, but the sides remain at a stalemate in an increasingly nasty negotiation that threatens a fight many predict would be the highest-grossing bout in history.
With all of the other points agreed to for the blockbuster HBO PPV welterweight title bout at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, the drug testing protocol is the final sticking point.
Mayweather -- whose father, Floyd Mayweather Sr., has accused Pacquiao of using performance-enhancing substances without any proof -- had been demanding the inflexible Olympic-style testing conducted by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. That would mean Mayweather and Pacquiao would be subject to random blood and urine tests all the way up to the fight and immediately following it.
Pacquiao objected, in part, because he and his team want assurances that testing would be cut off at a predetermined time before the fight.
Mayweather changed his stance Saturday, moving off the hard line he had taken on using USADA as the testing agency.
"We are OK to move off USADA," Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, who is representing Mayweather, told ESPN.com. "What we're saying, and what is important to us, is four things -- that the tests be random, that they include blood and urine and the time frame, meaning when do you stop the tests before the fight but know they will still be effective. Three of them we have agreed on -- random, blood and urine. So now it is a matter of the two sides working out the specifics of the cutoff date to assure it will still be effective."
Schaefer said those talks are taking place between Bruce Binkow, a high-level Golden Boy executive, and Todd duBoef, the president of Top Rank, Pacquiao's promoter.
"Todd and Bruce are trying to work out the specifics of the cutoff to assure the tests are still effective because we know that 30 days before is not effective," Schaefer said. "At 30 days, we might as well not even do it. We want to figure it out [the cutoff window] and I will give my recommendation to Team Mayweather, and they will be on board. USADA is the most recognized one, but if it's another one, like the Nevada commission, we don't really care. I don't care who performs the tests as long as they are performed. That's our position. If this fight doesn't happen it's not because of Team Mayweather."
Pacquiao agreed to unlimited urine testing and at least three blood tests, one in early January around the time of the kickoff news conference, one 30 days before the fight and another in the dressing room after the fight. When Mayweather was insisting on USADA, Top Rank chief Bob Arum said Pacquiao was willing to revisit the number of tests as long as they used some other agency, one with which they could negotiate the protocol and assure Pacquiao that he would at least not be tested in the middle of the night or in the few days leading up to the bout.
On Friday, Arum said their side was willing to sit down with Golden Boy and the Nevada State Athletic Commission to work out the details of the testing. Nevada only requires a prefight and a postfight urine test, although it could also test blood if the sides asked.
But on Saturday, Arum, speaking from his vacation in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, backtracked, saying even the three tests were out the window -- unless Nevada asked for them, which Arum knows is unlikely.
"Our position is that since the fight would be in Nevada, let [the Mayweather side] make any petition it wants to the commission," Arum said. "We wash our hands of it. If the commission wants to take blood, fine. We don't care. But we're not going to pander to this petty bull---- about how many days before the fight they can test and so forth. Who are they [Golden Boy] to tell Manny what he's supposed to do? How many times did [Golden Boy boss] Oscar De La Hoya ever give blood before a fight? I will not let this kid get pushed around.
"If they go to the commission and they ask for blood tests and the commission says yes, we will do whatever the commission says. The commission says blood testing, we'll do blood testing. We're not going to help it or oppose it. We're not going to give any credence to this nonsense. They want to sign a contract under the rules of the commission, fine. We don't want the fight if it means Manny is going to be pushed around. Let the commission tell us how many days in front they want blood. Let the commission pick a date to stop taking blood. We trust the commission. Blood testing we think is unnecessary, but fine, we'll do it. But let the commission set the parameters. Let Golden Boy approach the commission and say we want to take blood when he's walking into the ring. Whatever the commission wants to do we will support, but we won't take part in this exercise in nonsense, a procedure which is contrary to how boxing has been conducted in Nevada for 40 years. The burden is not on us to tell the commission what to do."
Arum's appeal for the commission to handle matters may be hollow because although it has protocols in place for random urine testing during training camps, it doesn't for blood testing, and to put it in place in time for a March 13 fight is unlikely, according to Keith Kizer, the executive director of the Nevada commission.
"We're very confident that urine tests by themselves cover everything that needs to be covered, but if the camps want to do additional testing through a third party they are welcome to, as long as they also adhere to commission rules," Kizer told ESPN.com. "Urine testing we could run with today. We could test their urine every day from now until March 13. But blood testing is trickier because we don't require it. If the commission wanted to change the rule it would have to be at a public meeting and, at the earliest, that would be early to mid-January. We have done some urine testing during training camps. We have those protocols in place. Blood testing is a different story.
"We'd have to put it on a commission agenda. Golden Boy or Top Rank or both could ask for blood testing and we'd look into it. Whether it would go anywhere, that's up to the commission to decide. As of now, there are no plans for a special commission meeting, nor has one been requested from either side."
The promoters and HBO hoped to have the fight signed and formally announced at a news conference the first week of January. If they can't iron out the particulars on blood testing until a commission meeting, likely around Jan. 13, it would make finalizing the bout unlikely until at least then.
Schaefer believes that Arum's position of leaving it up to the commission is him "moving the goal post."
"The pressure is on Pacquiao," he said. "They keep moving the goal post like they did with the $10 million weight penalty [if either fighter is over the contract maximum 147 pounds], which we agreed to. They didn't think we would accept that. When we did, they had to find something else to make into a problem. So now they're saying it's up to the commission instead of wanting to negotiate the drug testing with us. I don't want to hear that if the fight breaks up it was because of us. When they came to us with a $10 million weight penalty, they didn't expect us to say yes. They thought we'd say no. So when we said yes, they had to come up with something else. Now we're off USADA, and they are going to come and say only urine testing if that's what the commission says. It's really frustrating.
"We are making compromises. It's a two-way street. If they back off again, I will shut off my phone and spend the rest of the Christmas and New Year's time with my family, and good luck to all of these fools."
While Arum is making plans for an alternative fight for Pacquiao against former junior welterweight titlist Paulie Malignaggi -- who has also accused Pacquiao of using PEDs -- if the Mayweather fight falls apart, Schaefer said he hasn't discussed an alternative with Mayweather.
"We haven't discussed anybody else because the fight we want to bring to the fight fans is the one with Pacquiao," he said. "The focus is on getting Mayweather-Pacquiao done while Bob is making calls everywhere on the Malignaggi fight. That shows his focus is not on Mayweather.
"How ridiculous is that that Pacquiao would go and fight the guy who makes accusations that he uses performance-enhancing drugs instead of Mayweather [Jr.], who didn't make those accusations? Something is not right. I don't know how to explain it other than maybe Pacquiao doesn't want the Mayweather fight."
This is good news, this means there is some progress and still hope. Let's all pray to the boxing gods they settle the differences on Tuesday!
Mayweather-Pacquiao: Both Sides To Meet on Tuesday
By Rick Reeno
BoxingScene.com was advised by sources close to the situation that a meeting between representatives for Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. will take place this Tuesday before an arbitrator in California. Top Rank's Bob Arum, Golden Boy Promotions' CEO Richard Schaefer and their legal counsels are expected to attend.
I hear some of issues to be discussed will include the future of Golden Boy's financial stake in Pacquiao, the pending defamation suit that Pacquiao brought on Mayweather, Golden Boy and others, and a possible agreement between both sides on the issue of random drug tests for a potential Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. The target date for the fight is March 13 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas but both sides are getting nervous on whether there is enough time to properly promote a fight of this size with only two months time.
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Mayweather-Pacquiao: Both Sides To Meet on Tuesday
By Rick Reeno
BoxingScene.com was advised by sources close to the situation that a meeting between representatives for Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. will take place this Tuesday before an arbitrator in California. Top Rank's Bob Arum, Golden Boy Promotions' CEO Richard Schaefer and their legal counsels are expected to attend.
I hear some of issues to be discussed will include the future of Golden Boy's financial stake in Pacquiao, the pending defamation suit that Pacquiao brought on Mayweather, Golden Boy and others, and a possible agreement between both sides on the issue of random drug tests for a potential Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. The target date for the fight is March 13 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas but both sides are getting nervous on whether there is enough time to properly promote a fight of this size with only two months time.
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Pacquiao, Mayweather To Mediator
With time running out to save a potential March 13 megafight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr., the camps are heading to mediation on Tuesday in an effort to work out their differences.
Todd duBoef, the president of Top Rank, Pacquiao's promoter, confirmed the mediation meeting but refused further comment.
Mediator Daniel Weinstein will preside over the meeting in Santa Monica, Calif. Weinstein, a retired federal judge, also mediated the acrimonious dispute between Top Rank, Pacquiao's promoter, and Golden Boy, which represents Mayweather, that kept the companies from doing fights together for almost two years.
At the time, the companies had several ongoing lawsuits, including the one at the center of the bad blood: ownership of the promotional rights to Pacquiao, who had signed contracts with both companies before eventually pledging his loyalty to Top Rank.
When the disputes were settled in June 2007, Top Rank chairman Bob Arum and Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer credited Weinstein's steady hand for getting them to reach an accord. Under the global settlement, Top Rank retained Pacquiao's promotional rights with Golden Boy receiving a percentage of Top Rank's profit from his future bouts.
When the companies settled, it paved the way for Pacquiao to meet Golden Boy-promoted Marco Antonio Barrera in a 2007 rematch, and set up several future major co-promotions between the two most significant American promotional companies.
The hope is that Weinstein can once again help the sides see their way through what has become an increasingly nasty battle in an effort to finalize the bout between welterweight titlist Pacquiao and Mayweather, one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, in a fight many believe will break the pay-per-view record of 2.44 million buys. Mayweather's 2007 fight with Golden Boy president Oscar De La Hoya set the record.
AOL Fanhouse first reported the mediation plans Sunday night.
Top Rank and Golden Boy have agreed on all points on the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight except for one: The protocol for drug testing.
Even though the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which would oversee the bout at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, doesn't require blood testing, Mayweather has insisted on random blood testing. Both sides have already agreed to unlimited random urine testing.
Pacquiao has refused training camp-long random blood testing, agreeing only to three tests, one during the week of the kickoff news conference, which would take place in the next week or so if they finalize the fight, one random test to be conducted no later than 30 days before the fight and a final test in his dressing room after the fight.
Mayweather would be subject to the same testing procedures.
One issue sure to be discussed in front of the mediator is the impact of the defamation lawsuit Pacquiao filed last week in Nevada U.S. District Court against Mayweather Jr., Schaefer, De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Sr., Roger Mayweather and Mayweather Promotions.
In the suit, Pacquiao alleges they made false and defamatory statements and sullied his reputation by accusing him of taking performance-enhancing drugs. Pacquiao denies he has ever used PEDs and has never failed a drug test.
If mediation fails, and the fight does not get made, Arum said he will match Pacquiao with junior middleweight titlist Yuri Foreman, whom he also promotes, on March 20 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas so Pacquiao could attempt to win a title in a record eighth weight division.
Mayweather could still fight on March 13 at the MGM and potentially face former junior welterweight titlist Paulie Malignaggi.
Dan Rafael in the boxing writer for ESPN.com.
With time running out to save a potential March 13 megafight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr., the camps are heading to mediation on Tuesday in an effort to work out their differences.
Todd duBoef, the president of Top Rank, Pacquiao's promoter, confirmed the mediation meeting but refused further comment.
Mediator Daniel Weinstein will preside over the meeting in Santa Monica, Calif. Weinstein, a retired federal judge, also mediated the acrimonious dispute between Top Rank, Pacquiao's promoter, and Golden Boy, which represents Mayweather, that kept the companies from doing fights together for almost two years.
At the time, the companies had several ongoing lawsuits, including the one at the center of the bad blood: ownership of the promotional rights to Pacquiao, who had signed contracts with both companies before eventually pledging his loyalty to Top Rank.
When the disputes were settled in June 2007, Top Rank chairman Bob Arum and Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer credited Weinstein's steady hand for getting them to reach an accord. Under the global settlement, Top Rank retained Pacquiao's promotional rights with Golden Boy receiving a percentage of Top Rank's profit from his future bouts.
When the companies settled, it paved the way for Pacquiao to meet Golden Boy-promoted Marco Antonio Barrera in a 2007 rematch, and set up several future major co-promotions between the two most significant American promotional companies.
The hope is that Weinstein can once again help the sides see their way through what has become an increasingly nasty battle in an effort to finalize the bout between welterweight titlist Pacquiao and Mayweather, one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, in a fight many believe will break the pay-per-view record of 2.44 million buys. Mayweather's 2007 fight with Golden Boy president Oscar De La Hoya set the record.
AOL Fanhouse first reported the mediation plans Sunday night.
Top Rank and Golden Boy have agreed on all points on the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight except for one: The protocol for drug testing.
Even though the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which would oversee the bout at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, doesn't require blood testing, Mayweather has insisted on random blood testing. Both sides have already agreed to unlimited random urine testing.
Pacquiao has refused training camp-long random blood testing, agreeing only to three tests, one during the week of the kickoff news conference, which would take place in the next week or so if they finalize the fight, one random test to be conducted no later than 30 days before the fight and a final test in his dressing room after the fight.
Mayweather would be subject to the same testing procedures.
One issue sure to be discussed in front of the mediator is the impact of the defamation lawsuit Pacquiao filed last week in Nevada U.S. District Court against Mayweather Jr., Schaefer, De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Sr., Roger Mayweather and Mayweather Promotions.
In the suit, Pacquiao alleges they made false and defamatory statements and sullied his reputation by accusing him of taking performance-enhancing drugs. Pacquiao denies he has ever used PEDs and has never failed a drug test.
If mediation fails, and the fight does not get made, Arum said he will match Pacquiao with junior middleweight titlist Yuri Foreman, whom he also promotes, on March 20 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas so Pacquiao could attempt to win a title in a record eighth weight division.
Mayweather could still fight on March 13 at the MGM and potentially face former junior welterweight titlist Paulie Malignaggi.
Dan Rafael in the boxing writer for ESPN.com.
Throwback shadowboxing at its best
The maneuvering between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao is downright kooky
ESPN.com
For those of us who long for the days when boxing was the sporting world's crazy uncle, the past few weeks have provided us with a nice hit of nostalgia. Scurrilous allegations, defamation suits and a heavily tattooed man claiming a fear of needles -- Mayweather-Pacquiao isn't Tyson-McNeeley, but it'll do.
Maybe it had to be this way. It's the one fight everyone wants to see, the one fight that could put boxing on the big stage for a solid week in March, and the one fight that could create a Super Bowl-like buzz on a spring Saturday night. So maybe it's fitting that it might not happen over a move straight out of boxing's crazy old days. Floyd Mayweather Jr. is demanding that Manny Pacquiao prove himself innocent of a transgression that only Mayweather and his people are alleging.
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AP Photo/Alastair Grant
Floyd Mayweather's pre-fight maneuvering is worthy of a master tactician.
This is a tactic worthy of the best disinformation campaigns. You issue a damning proclamation and then stand back and let everyone else deny it. This is what Mayweather's people seem to be doing by asking Pacquiao to submit to random blood testing to prove that he's not using performance-enhancing drugs, whether it be steroids or HGH. And since Pacquiao refuses to consent to anything beyond unlimited urine tests, Mayweather's people can sit back and say, "See? See what we're talking about?"
I know what you're thinking: If Pacquiao doesn't have anything to hide, why doesn't he agree to blood testing? That's become the default position in today's society. Stop at this checkpoint, walk through this machine, hold your arms out for the wand. Not to get too broad here, but we've become so accustomed to proving our innocence in everyday life that we forgot how the system is supposed to work.
This isn't a guy looking to board a plane. This is a guy who is being accused of a crime by the other side, and he's being called upon to prove his innocence despite the complete absence of evidence suggesting guilt.
They cite Pacquiao's ascent through weight classes as circumstantial evidence, but going from a 106-pounder at 16 years old to a 147-pounder at 31 isn't unprecedented. In fact, Mayweather has made a similar run through weight classes starting from his Golden Gloves days. As a 16-year-old in 1993, Mayweather won the national Golden Gloves at 106. The next year, he won at 112; and in '96, he won at 125. Despite the Mayweather camp's insistence on a "level playing field," this isn't similar to a guy hitting 73 homers after never having hit 50.
Clearly, nobody wants to discuss civil liberties; the presumption of guilt is easier and more convenient. Pacquiao's people have cited a dislike of needles as a reason for his refusal to submit to blood testing, and that point has been justifiably mocked by those who cite his obvious like of tattoos. More than needles, it's likely Pacquiao dislikes being singled out, and dislikes being presumed guilty despite never failing a drug test.
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Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images
In Manny Pacquiao's case, a presumption of innocence seems to have been lost.
This isn't to say that it's totally out of the question that Pacquiao is juicing, or HGHing, or blood-doping, or ingesting something a chemist in the Philippines just realized can make a man's punch mimic a donkey kick. He's got motive (his own legacy) and opportunity (more than enough money), but you could say the same about Mayweather or any other big-time athlete. It's one thing to wonder without proof, another to openly allege without proof.
(Mayweather's people did agree to pay a $10 million fine if he comes in overweight, but that clause came about because he did come in overweight for his last fight, against Juan Manuel Marquez. There is no correlative concerning Pacquiao and performance-enhancing drugs. And that's why Pacquiao filed a defamation suit on Jan. 1.)
There should be a consistent system in place to test boxers -- it's a safety issue as much as anything. And yes, Mayweather is agreeing to the same blood testing his people are demanding of Pacquiao. But I don't blame Pacquiao for rebelling against an arbitrary system that is accompanied by underhanded suggestions that he owes his success to cheating.
Even though most of our innocence has been shredded by the past 15 years of enhancement, there is such a thing as natural greatness. There are people who do things nobody else can do. Both of these guys fit the description.
I've spent time with both men, having been fortunate enough to hang around in both camps as a fly on the wall while reporting profiles for ESPN The Magazine, and their actions in this nutty back-and-forth are perfectly consistent with their personalities.
Mayweather is a gamesman, a master tactician in and out of the ring. He talks a lot and manages to infiltrate the minds of his opponents before they step into the ring. He's all flash and dash, but he studies the game and is fiercely proud of his legacy as an undefeated fighter. He has a reputation for ducking lesser fighters than Pacquiao to retain that distinction. But this fight is so big, and the potential payoff so preposterous, that Mayweather almost has no choice but to take it. That has led some in the Pacquiao camp to conclude that Floyd is using the drug issue as a straw man either to get out of the fight or to use as an excuse if he were to lose.
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Ethan Miller/Getty Images
No question about Mayweather's legacy as a fighter. There's also no question he's aware of it.
While I was with him in Las Vegas before his fight with Oscar De La Hoya, in the spring of '07, for no apparent reason Floyd began counting out $100 bills on the apron of a ring at his training camp. Coupled with his ceaseless, caustic banter, it managed to be hilarious and slightly sad at the same time. His almost fetishistic relationship with money -- acquiring it and spending it, reportedly at roughly the same rate -- creates the impression of a shallow man. When it comes to boxing, though, he trains maniacally to preserve his legacy.
Mayweather's sense of his own importance is epic, even amid the false-idol world of the superstar athlete. Among his contingent of helpers was a guy whose only apparent responsibility was to start Mayweather's car so that it was running when he got in.
Pacquiao has a contingent, too -- family members and friends who live with him and rush around to be first to cater to his next need. When he was training for the Ricky Hatton bout last March, I spent a few hours in his Beverly Hills apartment watching people bring in groceries and cook while Manny sat on a couch getting a massage. The competition for relevance among Pacquiao's people is so great that some of them battle to see who can sleep on the floor at the head of his bed.
In other words, they both live in worlds far removed from yours and mine, which makes it difficult to ascertain their thoughts. Even venturing a guess is like taking a trip through an alien world. One thing is for sure: Mayweather is the bigger man and the bigger draw and the bigger personality. He has more to lose than Pacquiao. Much like his fighting style, he is poking and prodding, careful to stay just out of reach. Mayweather has always been the master technician. This time, the ring is optional.
The maneuvering between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao is downright kooky
ESPN.com
For those of us who long for the days when boxing was the sporting world's crazy uncle, the past few weeks have provided us with a nice hit of nostalgia. Scurrilous allegations, defamation suits and a heavily tattooed man claiming a fear of needles -- Mayweather-Pacquiao isn't Tyson-McNeeley, but it'll do.
Maybe it had to be this way. It's the one fight everyone wants to see, the one fight that could put boxing on the big stage for a solid week in March, and the one fight that could create a Super Bowl-like buzz on a spring Saturday night. So maybe it's fitting that it might not happen over a move straight out of boxing's crazy old days. Floyd Mayweather Jr. is demanding that Manny Pacquiao prove himself innocent of a transgression that only Mayweather and his people are alleging.
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AP Photo/Alastair Grant
Floyd Mayweather's pre-fight maneuvering is worthy of a master tactician.
This is a tactic worthy of the best disinformation campaigns. You issue a damning proclamation and then stand back and let everyone else deny it. This is what Mayweather's people seem to be doing by asking Pacquiao to submit to random blood testing to prove that he's not using performance-enhancing drugs, whether it be steroids or HGH. And since Pacquiao refuses to consent to anything beyond unlimited urine tests, Mayweather's people can sit back and say, "See? See what we're talking about?"
I know what you're thinking: If Pacquiao doesn't have anything to hide, why doesn't he agree to blood testing? That's become the default position in today's society. Stop at this checkpoint, walk through this machine, hold your arms out for the wand. Not to get too broad here, but we've become so accustomed to proving our innocence in everyday life that we forgot how the system is supposed to work.
This isn't a guy looking to board a plane. This is a guy who is being accused of a crime by the other side, and he's being called upon to prove his innocence despite the complete absence of evidence suggesting guilt.
They cite Pacquiao's ascent through weight classes as circumstantial evidence, but going from a 106-pounder at 16 years old to a 147-pounder at 31 isn't unprecedented. In fact, Mayweather has made a similar run through weight classes starting from his Golden Gloves days. As a 16-year-old in 1993, Mayweather won the national Golden Gloves at 106. The next year, he won at 112; and in '96, he won at 125. Despite the Mayweather camp's insistence on a "level playing field," this isn't similar to a guy hitting 73 homers after never having hit 50.
Clearly, nobody wants to discuss civil liberties; the presumption of guilt is easier and more convenient. Pacquiao's people have cited a dislike of needles as a reason for his refusal to submit to blood testing, and that point has been justifiably mocked by those who cite his obvious like of tattoos. More than needles, it's likely Pacquiao dislikes being singled out, and dislikes being presumed guilty despite never failing a drug test.
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Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images
In Manny Pacquiao's case, a presumption of innocence seems to have been lost.
This isn't to say that it's totally out of the question that Pacquiao is juicing, or HGHing, or blood-doping, or ingesting something a chemist in the Philippines just realized can make a man's punch mimic a donkey kick. He's got motive (his own legacy) and opportunity (more than enough money), but you could say the same about Mayweather or any other big-time athlete. It's one thing to wonder without proof, another to openly allege without proof.
(Mayweather's people did agree to pay a $10 million fine if he comes in overweight, but that clause came about because he did come in overweight for his last fight, against Juan Manuel Marquez. There is no correlative concerning Pacquiao and performance-enhancing drugs. And that's why Pacquiao filed a defamation suit on Jan. 1.)
There should be a consistent system in place to test boxers -- it's a safety issue as much as anything. And yes, Mayweather is agreeing to the same blood testing his people are demanding of Pacquiao. But I don't blame Pacquiao for rebelling against an arbitrary system that is accompanied by underhanded suggestions that he owes his success to cheating.
Even though most of our innocence has been shredded by the past 15 years of enhancement, there is such a thing as natural greatness. There are people who do things nobody else can do. Both of these guys fit the description.
I've spent time with both men, having been fortunate enough to hang around in both camps as a fly on the wall while reporting profiles for ESPN The Magazine, and their actions in this nutty back-and-forth are perfectly consistent with their personalities.
Mayweather is a gamesman, a master tactician in and out of the ring. He talks a lot and manages to infiltrate the minds of his opponents before they step into the ring. He's all flash and dash, but he studies the game and is fiercely proud of his legacy as an undefeated fighter. He has a reputation for ducking lesser fighters than Pacquiao to retain that distinction. But this fight is so big, and the potential payoff so preposterous, that Mayweather almost has no choice but to take it. That has led some in the Pacquiao camp to conclude that Floyd is using the drug issue as a straw man either to get out of the fight or to use as an excuse if he were to lose.
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Ethan Miller/Getty Images
No question about Mayweather's legacy as a fighter. There's also no question he's aware of it.
While I was with him in Las Vegas before his fight with Oscar De La Hoya, in the spring of '07, for no apparent reason Floyd began counting out $100 bills on the apron of a ring at his training camp. Coupled with his ceaseless, caustic banter, it managed to be hilarious and slightly sad at the same time. His almost fetishistic relationship with money -- acquiring it and spending it, reportedly at roughly the same rate -- creates the impression of a shallow man. When it comes to boxing, though, he trains maniacally to preserve his legacy.
Mayweather's sense of his own importance is epic, even amid the false-idol world of the superstar athlete. Among his contingent of helpers was a guy whose only apparent responsibility was to start Mayweather's car so that it was running when he got in.
Pacquiao has a contingent, too -- family members and friends who live with him and rush around to be first to cater to his next need. When he was training for the Ricky Hatton bout last March, I spent a few hours in his Beverly Hills apartment watching people bring in groceries and cook while Manny sat on a couch getting a massage. The competition for relevance among Pacquiao's people is so great that some of them battle to see who can sleep on the floor at the head of his bed.
In other words, they both live in worlds far removed from yours and mine, which makes it difficult to ascertain their thoughts. Even venturing a guess is like taking a trip through an alien world. One thing is for sure: Mayweather is the bigger man and the bigger draw and the bigger personality. He has more to lose than Pacquiao. Much like his fighting style, he is poking and prodding, careful to stay just out of reach. Mayweather has always been the master technician. This time, the ring is optional.
not sure if this interview was posted but check it out if you havent heard it
Floyd Mayweather vs. Ra The Rugged Man (taken in Oct. 2009)
http://www.google.com/reader/ui/324...udioUrl=http://hiphopruckus.com/Audio/RVF.mp3
Floyd Mayweather vs. Ra The Rugged Man (taken in Oct. 2009)
http://www.google.com/reader/ui/324...udioUrl=http://hiphopruckus.com/Audio/RVF.mp3