By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 16 Dec 2009
It seems the camp of undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr keeps raising different issues on a daily basis on the planned super fight against pound-for-pound king king Manny Pacquiao set for March 13 at either the $1.2 billion state-of-the-art stadium of the Dallas Cowboys or the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
It began when Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer at the last minute refused to fly to Dallas, Texas to meet with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones despite the fact that the trip had been talked about for days by the media.
Then the Mayweather advisers Leonard Ellerbe and Al Hayman demanded that Pacquiao undergo an Olympic-type drug testing with Ellerbe insinuating what Floyd Mayweather Sr has been openly alleging and that is, that Pacquiao is on some performance-enhancing drug despite the fact that Keith Kizer, Executive Director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission reiterated that the boxing hero had been tested before and after every fight and showed absolutely no trace of any illegal substance.
In their latest caper, according to Ringside Report by managing editor Geno McGahee, Mayweather Jr has threatened to pull-out over a weight issue. While Pacquiao agreed to put his WBO welterweight title on the line at 147 pounds and wants Mayweather to pay a huge penalty for every pound above the limit which would be a bigger amount than the $600,000 he paid Juan Manuel Marquez for being two pounds over the agreed limit in their October 2 fight. McGahee says Mayweather wants some “wiggle room” on the weight issue and this is being contested by Team Pacquiao.
Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach has made it clear that he doesn’t want Pacquiao who has risen to win seven world titles in seven different weight divisions to give Mayweather an undue weight advantage and rightfully so.
Ringside Report quotes a source as saying that the Mayweather camp has suggested an in-between bout in March with Pacquiao facing Yuri Foreman, the WBO light middleweight champion and Mayweather facing Matthew Hatton, the brother of Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton.
In an overseas telephone conversation with www.insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports, Arum said “your guess is as good as mine” when asked when a final agreement on the Mayweather fight could be expected.
The astute Top Rank promoter said “we solve one problem Mayweather makes another problem. Everyday, there’s another problem.” Arum added, “let’s see whether we can get it resolved tomorrow.
One of the issues up front is the venue with Dallas making a guaranteed $25 million offer but the MGM Grand the preferred choice of both Pacquiao and Mayweather who, according to David Mayo of the Grand Rapids Press, won’t fight in either Dallas or even the Staples Center which was initially mentioned by Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer. Mayo reported that Schaefer has to clear all decisions with the Mayweather people and they don’t want either Los Angeles or Dallas as the fight venue.ne
Source: philboxing.com
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