The longer the deadlock continues between mega-stars Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. the more time I?ve had to think about the consequences of what Mayweather is asking Pacquiao to agree to.
First we have to assume that the truth has been presented to us the fan, which is often not the case in the sport of boxing. We have to agree that the real, honest, singular hiccup in this fight is a blood test for steroids and not the percentage of the victor that the losing promoter will get, or options and rematch clauses.
If that is the case all I have to say is in the grand scheme of boxing who the hell is Floyd Mayweather Jr.!
If I was a businessman and an employee came to me and demanded that another employee be required to take a blood test, submit to a polygraph, or be dismissed, with no legitimate evidence of guilt, under the threat they wouldn?t do their jobs, I would seriously consider firing that person, no matter how important they may be to my company.
This is a power play pure and simple, a head game and on the grand scheme of things Mayweather is just another employee of boxing, who is asking for something that at this time we cannot afford and frankly he has no standing to require it. It is a can of worms better left buried until it can be addressed to the entire sport equally.
In this economy, in this page of boxing history we cannot afford a Pandora?s box without a thoughtful deliberate strategy to prevent steroids sport wide.
First of all if a commission or sanctioning body sets it as a requirement for Pacquiao then it has to demand it of all boxers, Pacquiao can sue for discriminatory relief if he and he alone is required to do the testing without any credible proof of guilt, and it not be required of the co-main, the prelims, and any other boxer who fights in that state. So another regulation gets put on the books if Mayweather is successful.
Don?t even think that these medical reports are private, in the sport of boxing they get leaked and anyone who doesn?t believe so can go ahead and ask Joe Mesi. While they may not get leaked out of a commission, I don?t want to read on Twitter that some champion is on an STD antibiotic because a temp clerk in a lab leaked it the day of the fight, who knows how it would effect the odds, LOL. When you add another bloody round of testing, you add another chance at this occurring. Not my business?
Do the sanctioning bodies involved in this fight or the commissions that are contacted understand just what Mayweather can do to this already stumbling sport?
Does the average boxer understand or the average fan?
Is there not already enough hoops to jump thru in many states to get a boxer approved by a commission, have we not driven enough fighters from the sport?
If Mayweather is allowed to become an officer of the Athletic Commission every time someone earns a right to challenge for his titles then who will be the next to require the same Olympic style testing of their mandatory, or their tune-up bout.
You say ?What?s the big deal it?s just a blood test?.
Even if Mayweather Jr. is doing this out of legit concern, some boxer?s camp out there will use it as an excuse not to fight someone and pretty soon everyone will. How many promoters will get stuck with paying a fighter not to fight when an opponent tests positive at ringside. Promoters have no control over what some boxer is doing in another country or another state, damn often they have little control over their own fighters behavior, but what they will be left with is one-side of a contract that they to pay regardless, plane tickets bought, rooms rented, meal money laid out, advertising invested, and pissed off sponsors, who are already few and far between.
Do small promoters need another round of testing to pay for; does a prelim fighter need another hand in his pocket, another slice of that little pie taken?
Do fans need a ticket increase, because costs dribble down folks or shite runs downhill as they say?
An eight bout small card is 16 boxers who if another round of testing is required, oh, say for hundred dollars each, you now have added $1600.00 to that promoters tab. Folks believe it or not most small cards lose money , often five figure money. Small shows no matter how entertaining often don?t draw a thousand people and many can?t draw 500. Sixteen hundred dollars is a lot of money when you are already in the red.
If the sport of boxing thinks it requires pre-fight steroid testing, then this is something that belongs in the meetings of the ABC, in the offices of the Athletic Commission, in the rules of the sanctioning bodies, not to have the regulations of a title fight dictated by an individual fighter , who will walk away with millions of dollars win or lose. Every change we in the sport we employ costs the fighter, the promoter, the fans, and for the long run not the short term. Rarely do regulations regress, often one rule change opens the door to several more.
If Mayweather is allowed to set a precedent in this case, while you think it may be a singular legitimate instance, believe me someone in the sport of boxing will use it in an underhanded way eventually, if that one is successful, another a hundred will.
Some main event somewhere will get cancelled because of a false positive!
The simple way to handle this problem if someone in these sanctioning bodies and commissions has any intelligence at all is to say we have a set of rules that were good enough for you when you both were coming up and either box within these rules now, or we strip you of the titles.
By the way, do we really want Olympic style testing in boxing, what is our amateur boxing program in the USA in such great shape that professional boxing wants to begin mimicking them or do we want to look at USA amateur boxing as an example of failure and ask Manny Pacquiao to continue to ? just say no? and move on before some champion somewhere decides he or she needs to have per punch judging, with little lights flashing on every blow, and a majority of judges having to agree, etc. etc. etc.
Ciao!
