NO matter how much Floyd Mayweather Jnr proclaims he is ready to fight Manny Pacquiao, there is no point in denying any longer that the collapse of his aborted March 13 mega-fight with the Filipino boxing hero was largely caused by the unreasonable demand the Bad Boy of boxing had put on the table.
He should have known better.
Floyd Jnr made an outrageous request that no professional sanctioning body could not enforce unless both he and Manny are on the same page.
Even the Nevada State Athletic Commission was proved hapless and helpless in forcing Pacquiao into agreeing with Floyd?s insistence that the World Boxing Organization welterweight champion submit himself into an Olympic-style random drug test.
By making such a demand, Mayweather arrogated himself as above NSAC, which has its own rules and protocols to check drug cheats in boxing. And by the way the NSAC does not only sanction boxing as I supposed. It also covers other professional sports and gaming in the Sin City of Las Vegas and elsewhere in Nevada.
Floyd should have known better.
If he was so confident about beating Manny at the current state the Filipino is now at, he should have taken the fight sans any demand that pricks one?s ego. If he believed Manny is juiced up, he should have demanded first that the Filipino southpaw undergo testing before issuing the challenge. That may sound silly and self-serving. But, at least, Floyd could have avoided giving false hopes that the fight will push through and that he indeed was serious in his challenge.
Manny knows better than Floyd, though.
He was able to plug a possible hole that Mayweather will make cheap cheat at the weighing scale like the American did in his most recent fight with Juan Manuel Marquez ? coming in two pounds above the contracted weight limit.
Manny demanded that Mayweather pay US$10 million for every excess poundage or fraction thereof that Floyd will be at during official weigh-in. At least Manny?s camp made a demand that will only hurt Mayweather?s pocket if the latter breached the weight limit.
The least Floyd could have done was to demand the same amount of penalty if Manny is tested positive of any performance enhancing drugs (PEDs). After all, nobody has come out with an iota of evidence that Pacquiao is juiced up except for the fertile imagination of Floyd?s father and namesake Floyd Snr.
As to the protocols of drug-testing and who will do it, Floyd cannot continue to insist on random testing without erasing doubts that he made the demand not for reason and fair play but just a ploy to rankle and unsettle Manny, to say the least.
But far beyond the mind games, Floyd had inadvertently pictured himself as the ?hombre? unwilling and not tough enough to take the challenge.
Unfortunately for him and Oscar de la Hoya, they may soon find themselves the ultimate losers in this fiasco.
The Mayweathers for besmirching Manny?s reputation and for Oscar for breach of contract for failing to protect Manny whom he co-promotes with Top Rank?s Bob Arum.
Now that Manny has called off the fight, Floyd?s camp is making last ditch efforts to save the match.
There might still be a window of opportunity for the fight to happen but it will no longer be contingent on what Floyd will have to say.
It’s now for Manny to decide whether Floyd?s antics were too irrational to take or not and if the fight is still worth persuing.
But what is certain is that for the fight to happen, it will be under Manny?s terms.
Floyd and his ilk – including Oscar de la Hoya and his Golden Boy Promotion – making amends and showing remorse are among them.
That would be sweet revenge for Manny. I would love it!\
