IT’S Christmas Eve and all I would like to do was spend it quietly and vowed not to touch my keyboard for at least a day.
But then this imbroglio about dope testing that puts the Pacquiao-Mayweather mega fight in serious jeopardy. All of the sudden, everything that was supposed to be in place gets messed up.
I still seriously think the fight will push through, though.
But allow me to put my cent’s worth of take on the issue.
It was Floyd Mayweather Sr who first floated the idea that Manny Pacquiao may have been juicing himself up with his incredible jump from the flyweight to welterweight while retaining, if not vastly improving, his punching power. That accusation came even before the fight between the Filipino boxing hero and Puerto Rico’s Miguel Angel Cotto.
Prior to that fight, Mayweather Sr got the embarrassment of his life when he lost his chance to prove Manny was not in the league of his namesake son Floyd Jr.
The senior Mayweather was in the corner of Englishman Ricky Hatton whom Manny demolished in just two rounds.
Mayweather Sr has always said he believed the fight between his son and Manny “ain’t right.”
Anyway, pressure on Floyd Jr to take on Manny Pacquiao to settle who the best fighter is in the division soared after the Filipino lefty gave Cotto a sound trashing.
Cotto, whom Floyd Jr avoided to fight along with Shane Mosley and Antonino Margarito, was considered among the top two welterweights when Floyd Jr announced his retirement in 2007.
Mayweather, also seriously wanting cash to keep his affluent lifestyle going and meet mounting financial obligations, finally called on Pacquiao to do the fight everybody in the world wanted to get done.
His camp wants the fight done in March, just four months after Manny obliterated Cotto but already six months after Mayweather made his comeback fight against Juan Manuel Marquez.
For Manny, the March 13 will be too much too soon and too close to his congressional bid next year.
For the Floyds, it would be just enough lead off time because anything beyond that would mean another long layoff.
The Mayweathers knew that against Manny, his son would need all the physical and psychological advantages they could get to upset the Filipino fighter.
That calling on Manny may have been a bluff in the very first place.
Unfortunately for them, Manny plays the poker game seriously too and called their bluff.
Now the antes have been raised and re-raised.
Manny agreed to the March 13 fight.
Floyd Jr wants the fight done at 147. Manny agreed.
When Manny insisted a US$10 million fine for both fighters if they check in way the 147-lb limit, Floyd’s camp agreed. But suddenly, the Mayweathers insisted on an Olympic style drug testing scheme to ensure that both fighters come in clean.
Manny wants nothing about random blood testing while already in training.
Blood testing, according to him, could come before the fight conference and after the fight but not when he is already in training.
This time, it is Manny who is doing the bluffing. But it is serious bluffing. This fight could go down the drain and the Mayweathers will have themselves to be blamed for scuttling this super boxing event that comes once in a lifetime.
Floyd will not get his next US$10 million or more fighting anybody not named Manny Pacquiao. And time is running out for him.
For Manny, he can go up north the 147-pound limit and go for yet another record.
Settling the score with Mayweather will be his crown jewel but his record-breaking accomplishments in the ring will not, in any way, be diminished if fight will not push through.
For Mayweather, he can harp that Pacquiao refuses to fight him but at the end of the day, boxing historian will always put a footnote about his boxing life.
“Here is Floyd Mayweather. He could have been the greatest fighter of all time had he only fought the best competition in his era.”
