Pacquiao vs Mayweather

After back-to-back spectacular knockouts this year against bigger fighters–Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto–Manny “Pac-man” Pacquiao had cemented his status as the current Pound-for-Pound (PFP) king. Since the previous PFP king, Floyd “Money” Mayweather, had come out of retirement after Pacquiao forced Oscar “Golden Boy” De La Hoya into retirement (one in, one out), many have been clamoring for a Pacquiao-Mayweather showdown (as I mentioned in one of my previous posts).

The week after the fight with Cotto, talks had already started between the two camps. For a while everything was surprisingly smooth sailing. Surprising, because in the world of boxing–especially the more famous fighters–egos tend to get in the way of arranging a fight. Even the order of the names in the billing (Pacquiao-Mayweather or Mayweather-Pacquiao?) can make or break a fight. A date for the fight, March 13, had been firmed up, even though the venue has yet to be decided. MGM Grand in Las Vegas, which has hosted a lot of the two fighters’ previous bouts, seem to be favored, even though other venues in places like Texas, California and New York City have bidded for the fight, knowing how potentially big the fight will be.

Well, lately the negotiations have run into a snag, because now the Mayweather camp is asking for Olympic-style blood-testing in addition to the standard urine testing by the Nevada State Commission. Pacquiao is ok with doing the blood test three times: in January, 30 days before the fight, and right after the fight. Mayweather wants it random, which might mean up to a few days before the fight. Pacquiao does not want this because he believes it will weaken him (physically and psychologically) for the fight. Many believe this is all a smokescreen, and that the fight will eventually push through. However, they think the Mayweather camp is using this to affect Pacquiao mentally and to plant the idea into fans of the possibility that Pacquiao might be doping. This back-and-forth has been serious enough that now Pacquiao is threatening to sue Mayweather. To paraphrase his latest statement, “enough talk, let’s fight!”