By G. Leon
Is Manny Pacquiao's decision not to partake in the rigorous drug test that Team Mayweather is requesting suspicious? Absolutely. There isn't a fighter who would risk $30M+ for bloodwork, but there is much more to this than meets than eye. Floyd Mayweather Jr is not bigger than boxing. His ego might be, but he is not. Like Pacquiao, Mayweather rapidly achieved success in multiple weight classes (140-154). Had Mayweather's lone opponent at 154, Oscar De La Hoya, demanded that Mayweather take additional drug tests not MANDATED by the commission, following his expeditious leap from lightweight to junior middleweight title challenger, is this something Floyd would have welcomed with open arms? (Of course, this might be an unfair comparison since De La Hoya has promoted every Mayweather fight since then.) To me Mayweather's demands imply that he feels every Manny Pacquiao fight that takes place in his hometown, Las Vegas, Nevada, the boxing capitol of the world, isn't happening on the level.
Have you ever seen an unsigned fight appear on SportsCenter more than than Mayweather-Pacquiao? Having this fight come to fruition without any implications of corruption would help take out sport to new heights.
And then what happens? Information is leaked about Pacquiao's unwillingness to take additional testing that is not required by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
Mayweather's official statement was a joke. Anybody who has ever heard him talk knows he didn't write it. I mean "Frankly." PLEASE. Maybe Mayweather knows someone back in Grand Rapids named Frank Lee, but frankly Pacquiao shouldn't have to go above and beyond the NSAC requirements because Mayweather says so. The fact that he's already agreed to take additional tests twice is more than any fighter on the top level would have and should have conceded to. Can you really picture a Klitschko allowing David Haye to make such a demand for a fight?
Floyd Mayweather's decision to retire enabled Pacquiao, via the excitement he brings to the ring to become the pound for pound upgrade in his absence, something that can't sit well with Mayweather, or his ego.
Team Mayweather should leave well enough alone, especially considering that Pacquiao would have no problem waiting until the summer or September for this fight to happen since he's looking foward to running for congress in the Philippines, a move that would likely cause Mayweather to once again seek advance money from Al Haymon and Oscar De La Hoya.
Regardless of how this plays out, now Mayweather and Pacquiao will be asked countless questions of alleged malfeasance taking place in what could become the highest grossing fight ever, and no matter how you slice it, that's not good for our sport.
These are the best two fighters in the world. One is a master boxer and the other one is a beast the likes of which I've never seen. That needs to be the story, not additional drug testing which isn't required by one of the most respected commissions in boxing.
If Mayweather's attitude towards what this fight means to boxing doesn't chage soon, I might regret his ever going broke forcing him to come back. By the time everyone involved was paid back, Mayweather wasn't Scrooge McDuckin it after the Marquez fight. And of course the fact that Mayweather and his braintrust also know that there are likely no more $30M, $20M or $10M fights out there for him if he loses, has absolutely nothing to do with their current concerns.
Source: boxingtalk.com
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