.jpg)
To bleed or not to bleed; that indeed is the question.
Who’s fault is it? KFC or Pacroids? That’s what the forum trolls have been calling both men after the falling out of their proposed ‘Superfight’ last March. Or is this simply an extension of the Golden Boy-Top Rank feud?
So many angles. So many theories. Bullets are flying from both sides accusing the other of wrongdoing.
Lately however, the tide seems to have changed and most shots are being fired towards perhaps an innocent bystander.
Majority of American media and American boxing fans are now pointing their guns at Pacquiao questioning his stance on rejecting Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s random blood testing demands.
It’s almost as if they now echo what Team Mayweather started asking from the get-go: “If Pacquiao has nothing to hide, why won’t he take the test?”
Surely any simple-minded person with elementary analytical skills can comprehend all of that. But the problem is, this issue is more complicated than it seems. Not saying that it should be or that it’s right, but it just is.
Maybe Pacquiao is truly hiding something. You can’t completely discount that possibility even if you’re one of the biggest Pacquiao fans. But at the same time, he does need to be treated as an innocent person until proven guilty. He doesn’t deserve all the accusations, insinuations and character assassination he has gotten especially since he has never failed any form of drug test in the past.
Or maybe Floyd is the one who is truly hiding something. Maybe he’s hiding the fact that he is worried about fighting Pacquiao who definitely has all the tools to hand him not only the first loss of his career, but also the biggest beat down of his life. Let’s be honest here. If Marquez and Mosley, as old and slow as they looked against Mayweather, were able to touch him, Pacquiao can definitely molest him. After seeing how Mosley rocked Mayweather in round 2 of their fight, I was further convinced that Pacquiao has what it takes to hand Mayweather his first loss. Mayweather himself did not look as quick as he did five years ago and without a strong punch to keep Pacquiao at bay, Mayweather will have his hands full against Pacquiao’s relentless combinations.
This could also just be a case of Pacquiao having too much pride. Once upon a time when he was a virtual nobody here in the US and fighting for peanuts, Pacquiao took a fight against one of the best super bantamweights in Lehlo Ledwaba on 2 weeks notice. Why not agree to random style-blood testing with a 14-day cut-off then? Has Pacquiao gotten that big that he can’t make any concessions to give fans what they want? I guess money and fame can change a person, or did it? I’m just asking.
I also have another suggestion: What if Pacquiao starts training while getting blood drawn from him so he can get used to it, or perhaps fight a lower quality opponent like Paulie Malignaggi first with the Olympics style testing just to be a guinea pig. Surely Pacquiao can destroy Malignaggi with one hand tied behind his back while literally carrying his assistant Buboy Fernandez on his back.
Or what if Pacquiao starts making his own concessions? What about having a surveillance crew or federal agent follow Mayweather 24/7 to make sure he isn’t cheating on his tests. Or what about having Mayweather’s whole crew take drug tests. From his trainers to his bodyguards. If you want to clean up a sport, you have to make sure you clean up your own backyard first, right? Okay, okay, this is getting ridiculous. But is it really that ridiculous compared to how Mayweather just pulled a rabbit out of his butt and started demanding a clean and drug-free fighter to take random blood tests?
I told you this is more complicated than what it seems and I haven’t even warmed up yet. At the end of the day though, this shouldn’t be complicated at all. Just fight. It’s mind-boggling to me how powerless boxing commissions are against fighters who get big enough to just demand anything they want and this goes for both sides. This is what’s wrong with boxing.
If I were to decide, I’d have the boxing commissions sit down and come up with a suitable middle ground and impose it on both fighters. They owe it to the fans and the sport of boxing and the great fighters of past eras that laced it up, fought anybody and everybody and helped elevate boxing to the sport it is today. If they don’t want to fight, kick them out of the sport. If it weren’t for the Haglers, Hearns, Alis, Fraziers, Leonards, Durans, Robinsons etc. Money and Manny wouldn’t make anywhere near the money they’ve made. And now all the riches are being thrown at them and you got all these stupid, petty reasons from both sides blocking the biggest gift and reward these two men can give back to the sport and its fans? Nobody should be bigger than a sport. This is definitely getting ridiculous.
Boxing should step in and put the pressure on both men to make this fight happen. Yea, they both don’t need each other, but the sport needs them. Funny as it sounds, why can’t they just be unselfish and take $40 million each and just make this fight happen? If LeBron and Kobe had a choice to just go straight to the finals and play against the other, you think they’d whimper and gripe as much as Pacquiao and Mayweather have? True greatness is about taking on the biggest challenge there is. This fight has to happen.
