There’s no love lost between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Bob Arum, the promoter of Manny Pacquiao whom Mayweather split with a few years ago and went on to fight in the major events he says Arum deprived him of.
So when Arum told the Grand Rapids, Mich., Press today that the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight was “off,” it should be noted that past animosity can lead to short tempers.
When asked if the fight was indeed off, one representative of Arum’s promotional company, Top Rank, said, “For now,” and another acknowledged Arum’s anger was authentic but that the disagreement could be healed.
Arum is bothered that Mayweather’s camp has asked Pacquiao to agree to Olympic-style random drug testing overseen by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. Pacquiao, according to Mayweather’s camp, has said he would agree to blood tests more than 30 days before the fight and after the fight, but not so close to the actual first bell.
Contacted by The Times on Tuesday, Pacquiao promoter Freddie Roach said he’d prefer for Pacquiao to give his final blood sample a week before the bout and no later than 72 hours before.
When told that, a national drug-testing expert said Roach’s position was reasonable and predicted an agreement would be struck. Mayweather’s advisor, Leonard Ellerbe, said he’s been told by the anti-doping agency that Pacquiao would not have to give a blood sample the day before the bout on weigh-in day.
But then Arum was quoted as saying the fight was off.
“This is not the first time he has said the fight is off,” said Richard Schaefer, chief executive of Golden Boy Promotions, who is negotiating for Mayweather. “He tries to muscle in on things we ask. I’m not sure he wants the fight. He might know Pacquiao is not going to win. It seems like he’ll do whatever he can to wiggle out, and it’s starting to tick me off.”
“I’m not saying the fight is off. And unless I hear it is from Manny, then it’s not.”
Schaefer said Arum is merely “ranting and raving,” and should talk to USADA chief Travis Tygart about how the blood-testing procedure would work. Schaefer said it was his understanding that Pacquiao wouldn have to give “less than a tablespoon of blood” less than 48 hours before the fight under USADA guidelines.
“Pacquiao may be having this nightmare of this being a huge needle sucking all this blood from him, and that’s not what this is about,” Schaefer said.
Mayweather said in a prepared statement Tuesday that he wants assurance in this megafight — which could potentially be the most lucrative in boxing history — that there’s a level playing field. Mayweather’s father has publicly said that he suspects Pacquiao of using performance-enhancing drugs, but Mayweather and Ellerbe haven’t gone that far.
“We have to hear from Manny,” Schaefer said. “Freddie is sensible. Him and the people close to Manny just need to explain this, and I believe there has to be a way to get this done. To just say the fight is done is not the appropriate way to treat this.”
“Arum should just enjoy his vacation in Mexico. Kick back. Light a stogie. Sip a tequila. Let this thing take its course, have it explained properly, and we can get this done.”
— Lance Pugmire
