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Bad 'blood' remains between rivals
Source: Agencies |
December 25, 2009, Friday
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THE fate of Manny Pacquiao's planned March 13 megafight with Floyd Mayweather Jr hangs in the balance over giving blood.
Both sides traded jabs on Wednesday over Mayweather's insistence that the two submit to Olympic-style drug testing amid indications that both were open to a possible compromise.
With time running short, though, Pacquiao's promoter said he's not willing to negotiate much longer to make the fight.
"I think it's over tomorrow and we're going to another opponent if there is no agreement," promoter Bob Arum said. "It looks to me like they want a way out of the fight. Mayweather doesn't want to take a chance of losing."
A day after Mayweather's camp threatened to scuttle the fight unless the boxers were subject to random blood tests, Arum said his fighter would agree to just three blood tests. One would be done in January during the week the fight is formally announced, a second would be done no later than 30 days before the fight, and a final test would be done in the locker room afterward.
Arum also said the tests should be done by companies used by major sports leagues, like Major League Baseball and the National Football League, something that so far is a major sticking point in the talks. Mayweather's camp wants the tests done by the United States Anti-Doping Agency, which operates under much stricter rules that include random blood tests.
Arum accused Mayweather of trying to play mind games with Pacquiao, saying the Filipino sensation has never failed urine tests for performance-enhancing substances.
"They want to put it in Manny's head that they can come in any time and take blood," Arum said. "Manny believes taking blood will weaken him. This is absolutely outrageous. Who does Floyd Mayweather think he is, the commissioner of boxing?"
Consensus
Mayweather's promoter, Richard Schaefer, said he was willing to try and reach a consensus between the two sides. He cited comments by Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, that Pacquiao would agree to blood tests up to five days before the fight as possible middle ground.
"If we could agree to a three-day cutoff I would try to sell that to my side," Schaefer said. "If Arum wants to walk away then he is going to be the one responsible for this fight falling apart."
Roach said on Tuesday that he would not allow Pacquiao to be tested the day before the fight, but would agree to giving blood if there was a cutoff date.
"If they give me a five-day window or something like that I have no problem with it," Roach said. "When they've drawn blood from Manny in the past he feels weaker for three or four days. It may be mental, but it's there."
Both sides traded jabs on Wednesday over Mayweather's insistence that the two submit to Olympic-style drug testing amid indications that both were open to a possible compromise.
With time running short, though, Pacquiao's promoter said he's not willing to negotiate much longer to make the fight.
"I think it's over tomorrow and we're going to another opponent if there is no agreement," promoter Bob Arum said. "It looks to me like they want a way out of the fight. Mayweather doesn't want to take a chance of losing."
A day after Mayweather's camp threatened to scuttle the fight unless the boxers were subject to random blood tests, Arum said his fighter would agree to just three blood tests. One would be done in January during the week the fight is formally announced, a second would be done no later than 30 days before the fight, and a final test would be done in the locker room afterward.
Arum also said the tests should be done by companies used by major sports leagues, like Major League Baseball and the National Football League, something that so far is a major sticking point in the talks. Mayweather's camp wants the tests done by the United States Anti-Doping Agency, which operates under much stricter rules that include random blood tests.
Arum accused Mayweather of trying to play mind games with Pacquiao, saying the Filipino sensation has never failed urine tests for performance-enhancing substances.
"They want to put it in Manny's head that they can come in any time and take blood," Arum said. "Manny believes taking blood will weaken him. This is absolutely outrageous. Who does Floyd Mayweather think he is, the commissioner of boxing?"
Consensus
Mayweather's promoter, Richard Schaefer, said he was willing to try and reach a consensus between the two sides. He cited comments by Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, that Pacquiao would agree to blood tests up to five days before the fight as possible middle ground.
"If we could agree to a three-day cutoff I would try to sell that to my side," Schaefer said. "If Arum wants to walk away then he is going to be the one responsible for this fight falling apart."
Roach said on Tuesday that he would not allow Pacquiao to be tested the day before the fight, but would agree to giving blood if there was a cutoff date.
"If they give me a five-day window or something like that I have no problem with it," Roach said. "When they've drawn blood from Manny in the past he feels weaker for three or four days. It may be mental, but it's there."
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