12/23/2009 12:11 PM ET By Lem Satterfield
Top Rank promoter, Bob Arum, said that the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight scheduled for March 13 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas "in my mind, is dead as a door nail," adding that, "we're starting to look, today, for other opponents" for Pacquiao.
At the center of the negotiating impasse is the Mayweather camp's insistence on Olympic-style drug-testing, specifically, in taking blood samples, randomly "up to and including the weigh-in the day before the fight," said Arum.
Pacquiao had agreed to random urinalysis testing at any time, said Arum. But the seven-division champion from the Philippines, believing that giving blood so close to fight time would weaken him, would supply blood only 30 days out from the fight or directly after the fight, Arum said.
"As far as I can see, nothing is going on with the fight. I really believe that this exposes the fact that Mayweather never had any intentions to do the fight," said Arum. "I don't think that I can salvage this fight because Mayweather -- the fighter on the other side -- does not want to fight, he never wanted to fight Manny Pacquiao, and he's afraid to lose."
Arum noted that Pacquiao has fought nearly a dozen times in Las Vegas, including his past six fights -- decisions over Marco Antonio Barrera and Juan Manuel Marquez, as well as knockouts of David Diaz, Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Cotto.
"He's passed every test that they've given. And if the extensive testing of the kind that is done in Nevada has been good enough for everybody in Nevada for 40 years, I don't see why it should change now," said Arum. "Floyd Mayweather's being coddled by sycophants like [Golden Boy Promotions CEO] Richard Schaefer, who ought to be ashamed of himself for the statements that he's made."
Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 knockouts) earned an unprecedented seventh crown in as many different weight classes when he took Miguel Cotto's WBO welerweight (147 pounds) title with a 12th-round knockout on Nov. 14.
Arum said that Pacquiao could go after an unprecedented eighth crown in as many weight divisions against New York's newly-crowned WBA titlist Yuri Foreman (28-0, eight KOs), or he could fight Mexican great Juan Manuel Marquez (50-5-1, 37 KOs) at 140 pounds, against whom Pacquiao has fought to a disputed draw and earned a disputed decision, respectively.
Another opponent, said Arum, is New York's Paulie Malignaggi (27-3, five KOs), another 140 pounder.
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
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