Floyd Mayweather spurns compromise to end hope of Manny Pacquiao fight
• Mayweather insists on random drug tests in 30-day period
• Filipino offered test 24 days before scheduled bout in March
Floyd Mayweather Jr, smarter in the ring than out of it, may have made the costliest blunder of his career by rejecting the late compromise Manny Pacquiao offered him to save their $200m (£125m) fight in March.
The Filipino yesterday reluctantly agreed to take a blood test for drugs 24 days before the bout, scheduled for the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, on 13 March; Mayweather, immovably suspicious of Pacquiao's punching power through the weights, insisted on random tests at any point during the 30 days before the fight.
And that killed stone dead the independent mediation of the retired federal judge Daniel Weinstein in Santa Monica, after nine hours of tough talks on Tuesday and a flurry of exasperated phone calls thereafter.
By walking away so close to a deal after weeks of brinkmanship, Mayweather simultaneously shocked his advisers, who told him to settle, and angered Pacquiao's people to the point where legal actions against himself and his promoters, Golden Boy Promotions, are now hurtling towards the courts. The financial consequences could be considerable for the losers.
"I am very disappointed," Pacquiao said, "that we could not make this fight for the fans." Probably not as disappointed as the estimated three million customers willing to pay more than $50 each in the United States to watch the fight on HBO, as well as an estimated million-plus in the UK.
Bob Arum, Pacquiao's promoter, was incandescent. "Mayweather never wanted it," he said. "Manny wanted the fight. He was agreeable to terms. The fight's off. Mayweather is a coward. The fight's off not because of us, not even because of Golden Boy. It's because of him personally.
"Mayweather's never stepped into the ring with a guy unless he knew he could beat him. That's why there's never been a fight with Shane Mosley, there's never been a [fight with] Antonio Margarito, there never was a Miguel Cotto."
With one shake of his head, Mayweather is reduced to taking a potentially dull alternative fixture against the smaller, weaker but indisputably eager standby Paulie Malignaggi on the scheduled date at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas.
"Pacquiao just left a $40m fight on the table because of a random drug test," Malignaggi, who can hardly believe his luck, told Boxingscene.com. "Do you know how stupid that sounds?"
Pacquiao will probably challenge the trainee New York rabbi Yuri Foreman, who recently became the WBA light-middleweight champion, at the Thomas and Mack Centre, Las Vegas, on 20 March. Victory would give Pacquiao an unprecedented eighth world title at a different weight.
Pacquiao said on his website he would proceed with the writ for defamation he issued last week against Mayweather, his father, Floyd Sr, and uncle Roger, as well as Richard Schaefer and Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions, for allegedly claiming he used performance-enhancing drugs.
Arum is also suing Golden Boy Promotions, who retain a share of Pacquiao's revenues despite a disputed arrangement with the fighter, who signed with both them and Arum's Top Rank.
Arum told ESPN.com: "There's an arbitration which calls for them to lose any percentage of Manny's promotional contract, something we asked for and had postponed, but now will go forward."
Mayweather and his negotiators were not immediately available for comment. However, sources told the Los Angeles Times, "The fighters still have time to strike a deal before a 'business deadline'." It is a thin hope.
It will be fascinating to see which promotion in March sells better – because, when they talk again, the gate receipts and pay-per-view hits will be major negotiating chips. But the pervading mood from Santa Monica to Las Vegas yesterday was one of gloom – and disbelief that experienced deal-makers could not nail down the richest promotion in the history of boxing.
Floyd Mayweather spurns compromise to end hope of Manny Pacquiao fight | Sport | guardian.co.uk
sadly looks like its going to be off!
Mayweather really is a pussy, he is just too worried about losing this fight, he is throwing up and excuse or terms for this fight not to get the go ahead.
There is something definatly wrong with the world of boxing if this cant happen
What are you 12, and have you heard of East Germany????Amusing that you are intimating that Mayweather is also the one using steroids, etc. We all know Brits are above that sort of thing, well except people like Linford Christie OBE
You mean just like all the other tests he has had prior to this fight and never failed, or the Olympic style testing which is completely unheard of in professional boxing.
