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Nas wrote: There was nothing extreme about the drug testing demands Mayweather had. He asks for the same thing for all his fights. Why wouldn't he ask Pacquiao? Especially considering how big and powerful he had suddenly got. Utimately Pacquiao was willing to give in to the demands IF Mayweather split the purse. That was never going to happen. Mayweather is the marquee attraction. Pacquiao is 2 years younger than Mayweather so it is likely Floyd would slow down first. He's not a great fighter without his speed and quickness. There's a lot wrong with what you're saying. First, I don't think Mayweather is the bigger attraction than Pacquaio. http://www.secondsout.com/columns/thoma ... and-boxing "Bart Barry recently opined, “Pacquiao is a charismatic action fighter who’s created a market for prizefighting in the Philippines and made it as popular as ever throughout Asia. Mayweather is a foul-mouthed defensive specialist whose fights lose more fans than they gain. Pacquiao is good for boxing. Mayweather is good for Mayweather.”
Floyd’s fans will take issue with that appraisal. But the reality of the situation is that, over the past year, Pacquiao (not Mayweather) has become the standard-bearer for boxing in the United States and the rest of the world.
Two years ago, Carlo Rotella wrote in The New York Times, “There are good welterweight boxers to fight, and Mayweather isn’t fighting them. Even when he does deign to box, he has been taking big money fights against relatively easy opponents. At some point, his refusal to fight other top welterweights begins to undercut his claim to superlative greatness as a boxer, and the cachet of Mayweather’s brand rests on that claim.”
On May 3, 2009, (the day after Pacquiao annihilated Ricky Hatton), Tim Dahlberg of the Associated Press proclaimed, “All Mayweather can do now is get in line. The road to greatness now runs through a fighter who lets his fists do the talking.”
Those comments and others like them were hurtful to Mayweather, who has told the world, “I don’t consider myself just a boxer. I’m an entertainment superstar.” The prevailing view was that Floyd had to fight and beat Pacquiao in order to maintain his superstar status.
In the wake of Pacquiao’s November 14, 2009, demolition of Miguel Cotto, calls for a Pacquiao-Mayweather showdown reached a fever pitch. Mayweather’s father (Floyd Mayweather Sr) stated publicly that he thought his son would “whup” Manny but advised against his taking the fight because, he claimed, Pacquiao was using performance enhancing drugs.
That earned a riposte from Freddie Roach (Pacquiao’s trainer), who referenced Sr’s criminal past with the observation, “Just because he’s a convicted drug dealer doesn’t make him a drug expert.”
Alex Ariza (Pacquiao’s strength and conditioning coach) weighed-in with the observation, “When he first started saying that stuff, I didn’t really address it because it was coming from Floyd. But things like that can start to snowball. I’m not saying this to be demeaning, but Floyd never finished high school and I’m not sure he knows the difference between steroids and supplements.”
More to the point, Ariza told ESPN.com, “Manny does take supplements. I’m talking about multi-vitamins and trace minerals. He takes other supplements for his kidney and liver because he’s on such a high-protein diet. All of them are perfectly legal. I’m completely in control of what goes into Manny. Everything he puts into his body is my responsibility. Manny takes nothing illegal.”
Team Pacquiao also noted that Manny had fought in Las Vegas eleven times and never tested positive for an illegal drug.
Serious negotiations for a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight began against that backdrop. Pacquiao has a contract with Top Rank (Bob Arum’s promotional company). Mayweather was represented by Golden Boy (which Richard Schaefer has built into a formidable force in the boxing industry).
Initially, things went smoothly. March 13th was designated as the likely date for the bout. After minimal posturing, the two sides agreed to a 50-50 financial split. The fight would be known as “Mayweather-Pacquiao” (rather than the other way around), but Top Rank would be referenced ahead of Golden Boy in all promotional material.
Mayweather had ignored the 144-pound contract limit for his September 2009 fight against Juan Manuel Marquez and weighed in at 146, paying a US$600,000 penalty for the privilege. To ensure that didn’t happen against Pacquiao, Top Rank exacted the concession that there would be a US$10,000,000 penalty for each pound or fraction thereof that either fighter weighed over 147.
On December 7th, negotiations hit a snag. Arum, Schaefer, and HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg were scheduled to meet with Jerry Jones in Dallas the following day to tour Cowboys Stadium and give Jones the opportunity to outbid the MGM Grand (which had the support of the Las Vegas establishment) for the fight.
Jones was readying to offer a US$25,000,000 site fee. HBO estimated internally that publicity resulting from the fight being held in Dallas could engender an additional several hundred thousand pay-per-view buys.
But on the night of December 7th, Schaefer called Arum and told him to cancel the trip because he’d decided against holding the fight in Dallas. That raised numerous questions; foremost among them whether the MGM Grand (with which Golden Boy has a long term agreement) or AEG (Golden Boy’s partner) had killed the Dallas deal. It was also noted that holding the fight in Cowboys Stadium (capacity 100,000) would have enabled fans to buy tickets at reasonable prices instead of putting virtually all of the tickets in the hands of high-rollers and ticket scalpers.
Also, by ruling out Dallas during the middle of negotiations, Golden Boy deprived the promotion of additional leverage in its negotiations with the MGM Grand.
Arum called the cancellation “ruinous,” pronounced himself “embarrassed,” and declared that something was “fishy.”
Then things got worse.
With Dallas out of the mix, it was now clear that Mayweather-Pacquiao (if it occurred) would be contested in Las Vegas. But the Mayweather camp was unwilling to accept drug testing as implemented by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Team Mayweather was demanding that both fighters be subject to “Olympic-style testing” conducted by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). That would involve unlimited random urine and blood testing without advance notice from the start of training through the day of the fight.
Pacquiao has an aversion to invasive testing. Indeed, when Shelly Finkel (who now has a “strategic alliance” with Golden Boy) co-managed Manny, he once asked the Nevada State Athletic Commission to waive a required eye test because Pacquiao didn’t want to undergo the procedure in proximity to the fight. The commission refused to grant the waiver.
“You gotta understand,” Arum said, with regard to the demand for USADA testing. “I’m dealing with a Filipino fighter who is superstitious, and I have to tell him they have the power to come into his dressing room before the fight and take his blood. Manny gets freaked out when his blood gets taken and feels that it weakens him. They would put nothing in writing as to any kind of schedule. That is ludicrous.”
Pacquiao, for his part, declared, “I’m not going to let them take my blood whenever they want when I’m getting seriously ready for a fight. They can take all the urine they want.”
The ensuing days saw a series of proposals (but little real movement) from the Pacquiao side. Essentially, Manny agreed to unlimited urine tests and three blood tests to be conducted (1) in January on the day that the fight was formally announced; (2) thirty days before the fight; and (3) in Manny’s dressing room immediately after the fight. Since USADA would not administer the tests on that basis, Arum suggested that they be conducted “by any of the independent agencies that work with the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, or Major League Baseball.”
Then things went viral. The Mayweather camp had suggested all along that Pacquiao was averse to random blood tests because he had something to hide. But the suggestions had come from people whose utterances carried little weight with the mainstream media: Floyd Jr, his father, and adviser Leonard Ellerbe.
Three days before Christmas, the landscape changed. Golden Boy issued a press release under the headline, “MAYWEATHER VS PACQUIAO IN JEOPARDY AS PACQUIAO REFUSES TO COMPLY WITH UNITED STATES ANTI-DOPING DRUG TESTING PROCEDURES.”
Among the bon mots the press release offered were:
Richard Schaefer: “Team Mayweather is certainly surprised that an elite athlete like Manny Pacquiao would refuse drug testing procedures which Floyd has already agreed to and have been agreed to by many other top athletes.”
Floyd Mayweather Jr: “I understand Pacquiao not liking having his blood taken, because frankly I don’t know anyone who does. But in a fight of this magnitude, I think it is our responsibility to subject ourselves to sportsmanship at the highest level. I have already agreed to the testing, and it is a shame that he is not willing to do the same. It leaves me with great doubt as to the level of fairness I would be facing in the ring that night.”
Leonard Ellerbe: “We hope that Manny will do the right thing and agree to the testing as it is an egregious act to deny the testing and, hence, deny millions of fans the right to see this amazing fight. We just want to make sure there is a level playing field in a sport that is a man-to-man contest that relies on strength and ability.”
One day later, Oscar De La Hoya (the primary equity participant in Golden Boy) poured his own cup of poison into the brew in the form of a blog authored for The Ring Online.
“If Pacquiao, the toughest guy on the planet, is afraid of needles and having a few tablespoons of blood drawn from his system,” De La Hoya wrote, “then something is wrong. The guy has tattoos everywhere. You’re telling me he’s afraid of needles? If Pacquiao doesn’t want to do this and risks a possible $40 million payday because he’s afraid of needles or believes he’ll be weakened by blood tests, that raises question marks. Now I have to wonder about him. I’m saying to myself, ‘Wow. Those Mosley punches, those Vargas punches, and those Pacquiao punches all felt the same.’ I’m not saying yes or no [about whether Pacquiao might be taking performance-enhancing drugs]. I’m just saying that now people have to wonder: ‘Why doesn’t he want to do this? Why is it such a big deal?’ A lot of eyebrows have been raised. This is not good at all. I would say to Pacquiao, ‘Do the test. Do it because it’s only a couple of tablespoons. Needles don’t hurt. Just look away when they put the needle in your arm.’ He’ll probably lose more blood in the fight than the blood being drawn for the test. Why don’t you want to do it? C’mon. It’s only a little bit of blood. If you have nothing to hide, then do the test.”
De La Hoya’s statement was hypocritical. For starters, there was his claim that Pacquiao’s punches felt like those of Shane Mosley and Fernando Vargas (both of whom had used performance enhancing drugs prior to fighting Oscar). Yet on two prior occasions, De La Hoya had demeaned Pacquiao’s punching power. First, he’d stated, “Luckily, he doesn’t hit hard. Obviously, if he hit hard, he would have knocked me out with no problem.” Later, Oscar had maintained, “Truthfully, he didn’t hit hard. He didn’t really hurt me. But the punches were so fast and they were coming from everywhere.”
Still, after the Golden Boy press release and De La Hoya blog, the suggestion that Pacquiao was using performance enhancing drugs exploded into the mainstream media. That tarnished Manny, increased enmity between the two camps, and made the issue of drug testing harder to resolve.
Everything that followed was a sad endgame.
On December 25th, Team Pacquiao issued a statement saying that Manny intended to file a lawsuit for defamation within the next few days.
“Enough is enough,” Pacquiao was quoted as saying. “These people – Mayweather Sr, Jr, and Golden Boy Promotions – think it is a joke and a right to accuse someone wrongly of using steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs. I have tried to brush it off as a mere pre-fight ploy, but they have gone overboard. I have instructed my promoter, Bob Arum, to help me out in the filing of the case as soon as possible because I have had people coming over to me now, asking if I really take performance-enhancing drugs and have cheated my way into becoming the number-one boxer in the world. I maintain and assure everyone that I have not used any form or kind of steroids. My way to the top is a result of hard work, hard work, hard work, and a lot of blood spilled from my past battles in the ring, not outside of it. I have no idea what steroids look like.”
On December 26th, Pacquiao issued another statement. After restating his terms (urine tests anytime; blood tests on the three previously offered dates), he declared, “The truth is, taking blood out of my body does not seem natural to me. Mentally, I feel it will weaken me if blood is taken from me just days before the fight. To all of my fans, I want to say thank you very much for your support and understanding. I always give honor to God first. I would never cheat God; I would never cheat myself; and I would never cheat my country and my fans.”
Meanwhile, Arum was pursuing a new tack; that the entire matter should be decided by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
On December 26th, the promoter declared, “The Nevada commission is paid by the state to oversee this sort of thing. They’re the governing body. Let [the Mayweather side] make any petition it wants to the commission. If the commission wants to take blood, fine. If they go to the commission and they ask for blood tests and the commission says yes, we will do whatever the commission says. We will allow Golden Boy to present experts to the commission to explain why additional testing is required and we’ll explain our position. Then we’ll let the Nevada commission decide. If Nevada says we need to do more testing, we’ll do more. But if they don’t, we won’t. Let the commission tell us how many days in front they want blood. Let the commission pick a date to stop taking blood. If the commission says both fighters have to give blood as they’re walking into the ring, we’ll do it. But I want the commission saying it.”
In response, Schaefer declared, “It does not make sense for this to become a commission matter. This is a contractual matter. The commission did not decide the weights or the purse split or how the foreign television rights would be sold.”
That led to grumbling in some circles that Golden Boy had its own television network (HBO) and its own sanctioning body (The Ring) and now wanted to set up its own athletic commission.
But Schaefer held firm. “We are okay to move off USADA,” he said. “What is important to us is 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. We have agreed on random, blood, and urine. So now it’s a matter of the two sides working out the specifics of the cutoff date to assure it will still be effective. We know that thirty days before is not effective. At thirty days, we might as well not even do it.”
Meanwhile, at Top Rank’s behest, publicist Fred Sternburg sent out a March 25, 2008, Associated Press article recounting a request by Zab Judah that Shane Mosley agree to blood testing for drugs prior to their May 31, 2008, fight (which was cancelled after Judah suffered a serious cut on his arm).
In response to Judah’s request, Schaefer (Shane’s promoter) had declared, “Mosley will agree to any tests required by the Nevada Athletic Commission. Whatever tests they want them to take, Shane will submit to that. We are not going to do other tests than the Nevada commission requires.”
That revelation was followed by a blast from Arum, who proclaimed, “Shane Mosley was an admitted drug-user. I’ve had Shane Mosley fight two of the guys that I’ve promoted in the last few years. One of them was Miguel Cotto and the other was Antonio Margarito. Did I ever ever ever even indicate in any way that Shane Mosley should be subject to special testing? No.”
“Floyd, to me, is a coward and he has always been a coward,” Arum raged. “Not a physical coward, but a coward because he’s afraid to face somebody who could beat him. And believe me, Manny Pacquiao could beat him. So he’ll go his way, we’ll go our way, and that will be fine. We’re not going to keep appeasing this guy for no damn reason, especially over something that would affect, psychologically, my fighter. We’re not going to be pushed around by this guy. We’re not going to do it.”
Asked if he thought the Mayweather camp was playing mind games, Arum declared, “Of course, they are. And they can go screw themselves. I don’t care if this fight doesn’t happen. Manny is not going to be subjected to blood-testing while he’s in training. I have never ever in all the years I have known Manny seen him so angry. He was angry, bitter, and really pissed off.”
On December 28th, Richard Schaefer launched a counter-offensive, focusing on Team Pacquiao’s claim that it would weaken Pacquiao mentally, if not physically, to have blood taken from him within thirty days of the fight.
“We have actually been able to establish that, two weeks before the Hatton fight, he [Pacquiao] had his blood taken here in Los Angeles,” Schaefer told the media.
The basis for Schaefer’s claim was footage from HBO’s Pacquiao-Hatton 24/7 series that showed blood being drawn from Pacquiao as part of a routine pre-fight medical examination.
Properly chastised, Arum said that he would consider revisiting the issue with Pacquiao. Then it was determined from a review of medical records that the blood had been taken twenty-four days prior to the fight.
Also on December 28th, the Nevada State Athletic Commission got into the act. Citing its right to require licensed boxers to submit to tests for prohibited substances, the NSAC instructed Pacquiao and Mayweather to submit urine samples within forty-eight hours or face possible fines and suspension.
When advised of the ruling, Arum declared, “That’s fine; no problem at all. We are absolutely in favor of it. I really applaud the way the Nevada commission has acted.”
Over the next two days, there were breathless “testing updates” and reports in the media of Pacquiao’s urine being transported around the world.
“A urine sample of Manny Pacquiao is on its way to Manila,” Nick Giongco wrote. “World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited doctor Alex Pineda, who also works for the Philippine Olympic Committee, personally witnessed the initial phase of testing at Pacquiao’s residence in General Santos City.”
The sample, Giongco reported, weighed 100 millilitres and had been placed in tubes labeled “A” and “B”. These tubes were to be sent “to Thailand, Malaysia, or China” because, according to Pineda, the Philippines doesn’t have a WADA-accredited testing laboratory.
On December 29th, Pacquiao issued another statement bemoaning the damage to his reputation caused by allegations that he had used illegal performance enhancing drugs. “I can’t believe these guys can lie without batting an eyelash,” Manny said. “Liars go to hell.”
On December 30th, Arum declared, “In my opinion, the fight has no chance of happening. We should go and do other things and revisit it later in the year. It’s a damn shame, but it’s out of my hands. When I think of having to share a dais with those sleazebags, Oscar and Schaefer, after what they’ve been saying about Manny, it turns my stomach.”
That same day, Pacquiao filed a defamation suit in United States District Court in Nevada against Floyd Mayweather Sr, Floyd Mayweather Jr, Roger Mayweather, Mayweather Promotions, Richard Schaefer, and Oscar De La Hoya.
On January 5th, the parties met in a last-ditch effort to resolve their differences through mediation under the guidance of Daniel Weinstein (a retired federal judge, who had successfully mediated a previous dispute between Golden Boy and Top Rank). Arum, Todd DuBoef (Arum’s stepson and the president of Top Rank), Schaefer, De La Hoya, Al Haymon (Mayweather’s manager), and legal counsel for some of the attendees were in attendance. The mediation was adjourned after nine hours.
On January 6th, the participants met again but still could not resolve their differences over the issue of drug testing. The talks collapsed. The fight was off." In any case, the two of them fighting is what people want to see. But Mayweather would rather fight 19 year olds who aren't close to ready for him. Or maybe he can fight Guerrero again. Mayweather has millions of excuses for not making that fight. The drug testing is just one of them. Finally, because of Mayweather's style, he isn't going to be affected by a decline in physical ability the way Pacquaio will. Pacquaio relies on speed and quickness in a way that Mayweather does not. Naturally, it's to Floyd's advantage to wait.
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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
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I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don
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