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'Call Em Out Fridays': Mayweather/Pacquiao Fight's Off, Mayweather To Blame EastsideBoxing.com

08.01.10

By Vivek Wallace - The sport of boxing has seen more than its fair share of black eyes in recent years, but the one it now sports is perhaps the grandest of them all. History has always seemed to wedge a gap in time, separating many of our legendary figures throughout the world of sports, preventing fans across the board from witnessing once in a lifetime showdowns like a prime Jordan versus a prime Kobe, or a prime Tyson versus a prime Ali. The one time history appears to have gotten it right by actually placing two once-in-a-lifetime figures in the same era, within the same weight class, poor negotiations have seemed to hi-jack the moment, as it now appears such an event will never take place. After weeks and weeks of details emerging from behind the shadow, it appears we now have a bona fide figure to point at for the fight not happening - or at least depending on who you listen to. After years and years of pleading his case in a rather imposing fashion, pound-for-pound pugilist Floyd Mayweather jr. has become the figurative "teenage thief", in the sense that his reputation precedes him the very moment something falls out of place or comes up missing. Such a reputation often makes it hard to gauge whether or not the man who's all about dollars can actually make sense, but like that teenage thief, there comes a time when you feel a need to actually listen to his words rather than prejudge based on past actions. . As this whole mess plays itself out between the two camps, I can't help but wonder at times would the world be so upset at this request had it been initiated from another fighter? Step away from the emotional element and walk with me for a second.......better yet.......lets remix this scenario entirely. If things were reversed, would it be a valid and withstanding point of contention if this were Mayweather stating that he won't comply with randomized testing because of a not-so-great performance in his rather distant past? Many remember Mayweather highly questioned in his initial bid in the lightweight division against Jose Luis Castillo. Rather than allow those questions to rent space in a career that had began to fill to capacity, a young Mayweather set out to remove all doubt by immediately taking a rematch and subsequently removing all doubt. We haven't seen him face some of the perennial figures of this era, but the one thing that appears obvious is that he does in fact want this fight, yet hasn't been able to seize it for a number of reasons. A brief recap of this long journey provides a few thought provoking elements......Days after conditioning guru Alex Ariza told us "Pacquiao wouldn't know what he takes because I give him everything he takes", Freddie Roach told us Team Pacquiao would "take any test, anywhere, anytime, and pass them all". Within days it changed to "no test within 6 weeks of the fight" from the same source. Days later, it went to "blame me, but he isn't taking ANY blood test during training for the fight". Suddenly, that source (Roach) went silent, and word directly from the top, (Arum), was that "testing would only take place if it could be done by the Nevada State Athletic Commission". In an utter surprise, the ego-maniacal Mayweather who has given little wiggle room in negotiations of the past budged, stating that he was fine with NSAC conducting the testing, although it would still have to be random. Right when we were led to believe that this movement would give us the needed progress to close the deal, Team Pacquiao responded again in saying that they would do it only if NSAC required randomized blood testing. In a new twist, Pacquiao would then reiterate a previous statement about not feeling "strong" against Morales when he was forced to fight after giving blood within 48hrs of their fight. The irony here was that in that statement, he also spoke of not being able to hydrate himself at that point because it was too close to the weigh-in and he was on his target weight and didn't want to risk failing to make weight. Correct me if I'm wrong, but he was fighting at 130lbs then, and is now fighting at 147lbs. Freddie Roach has said in the past that "at this weight, Pacquiao can literally eat full meals the morning of weigh-ins". If he can do that now and he couldn't do that before, it seems to me that re-hydrating won't be an issue at all because there's practically no weight to cut. In a last ditch effort, retired Judge Daniel Weinstien was summoned to attempt to mediate. Floyd Mayweather jr. himself would follow the failed effort by releasing a statement to the media which informed us of yet another concession, allowing the testing to be pushed back to 14 days prior to the fight rather than the 48 hours initially requested. Top Rank president Bob Arum then respond by saying the offer wasn't ever made during mediation, but now being aware of the new offer, he still made no effort to budge from his "no test w/in 30 days of the fight" position. Ladies and gents, you don't have to be the sharpest tool in the shed to cut the fat and get down to the meat. Floyd Mayweather jr. is no angel, but as fast as he is, apparently he's met his match, as this is one moving target that even he can't seem to engage on. There's a side of me that truly wants to believe that Pacquiao isn't capable of using steroids, but when I look at the blatant fear of randomized blood testing here, there are only two explanations that could apply otherwise. Freddie Roach sat in the media room after the Cotto fight and told me directly that he would "need more time than a March 13th date to prepare Pacquiao for a style like Mayweather's". Two weeks later, that statement was followed by an official statement released (on December 2nd) by Pacquiao's attorney Franklin Gacal to the Philippines' STAR news source which read as follows: "As of last night, Manny said he doesn�t want to fight in April or even May. There will be no fight. Everything will depend on the developments after the elections. But again, as of last night, the March 13 and May 1 dates for Pacquiao�s next fight are out"! This was a calculated move by one of the figures who has strong political interest in Pacquiao's life outside the ring who happens to know a loss inside of it could significantly reduce the returns when that final bell rings the night of March 13th. For those who have a hard time believing that Pacquiao can't possibly be the blame for this fight not happening, perhaps you're right. But one thing for sure.....it's very easy to point the finger at the kid in the store with the bad reputation because we see his hand in the cookie jar.....but before we go too far with that assessment, perhaps this one time we need to first ask ourselves "was the cookie ever really there to begin with"? Critics will say "why was his hand in the jar if it wasn't"? Supporters will say "why would he risk getting caught again if it was"? Taking up for someone close to you is normal, but nothing about what we've seen from Team Pacquiao lately is, and that's the one thing that both critics and supporters CAN agree on. So, we can choose again to point the finger at the usual suspect if we like, but doing so simply means that we're all content with turning our backs to the facts. Trust me, they're all present.

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