Blood issues kills Mega fight Pacquiao vs Mayweather

LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Manny Pacquiao will not fight Floyd Mayweather next March because a blood testing stalemate wiped out what could have been the richest fight in boxing history, promoter Bob Arum said Thursday.

The planned showdown between Filipino hero Pacquiao, a seven-division world champion, and unbeaten US star Mayweather could have brought each fighter as much as 40 million dollars in a rare Las Vegas mega-fight spectacular.

Arum, Pacquiao's promoter, said Mayweather's request to have stricter US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) testing methods, including possible random blood tests within days of the bout, killed any hope of reaching a deal.

"It's over," Arum said. "As far as I'm concerned the fight is over."

For boxing fans, it was like a Christmas Eve theft of their favorite gift, a long-awaited showdown between the generation's two recognized pound-for-pound superstars.
Mayweather-backing Golden Boy Promotions chief executive Richard Schaefer told the New York Times that calling off the fight would be "a big void for boxing" and "a setback for the sport and for these fighters."

Arum, who said every other aspect of the contract had been agreed upon, held out some hope the fight might come off later in 2010, but promised nothing.

"Can it be revisited in the fall? We'll see," Arum said.

An original May 1 date was scuttled because Pacquiao wants to run for Congress in his homeland and elections are in May. "Pac-Man" is expected to fight March 13, but against American Paul Malignaggi, 27-3 with five knockouts.

Mayweather was insisting on greater blood and urine testing than normal. Pacquiao was willing to commit to tests in January, 30 days before the fight and after the bout.
But Mayweather insisted on a USADA-administered program that opened the door for possible random blood tests within days of the fight.

Neither fighter had ever tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance under typical Nevada dope tests, which involve only urine samples that are taken just before and after the fight.

Arum saw Mayweather's insisting on random blood testing as a way out to avoid having to weigh in and face Pacquiao, who did not want blood drawn so close to the fight, Arum told the Grand Rapids Press.

"Floyd, to me, is a coward. Floyd never really wanted the fight and this is just harassment of Pacquiao," Arum said.

"Mayweather pressed for blood testing even up to the weigh-in. He knew that Manny gets freaked out when his blood gets taken and feels that it weakens him. This is just harassment and to me just signaled that he didn?t want the fight."
Arum had set a Thursday deadline to solve the testing issue, saying Pacquiao saw USADA as biased in favor of American Mayweather and unwilling to compromise their test procedures to accommodate a compromise.
"They are viewed by the Pacquiao side as being partisan. He doesn't want to use them," Arum said. "I don't want to use them. They're so inflexible they can't be used."
Mayweather, 40-0 with 25 knockouts, was regarded as the world's top pound-for-pound fighter before a 19-month layoff that ended last September.

Pacquiao, 50-3 with 38 knockouts, staked his claim on the pound-for-pound crown in Mayweather's absence by knocking out England's Ricky Hatton in the second round last May and stopping Miguel Cotto in the 12th round last month.

Boxing telecaster HBO had tried to negotiate a compromise Thursday to no avail, Arum said, and Golden Boy namesake Oscar de la Hoya tried his best, writing in a blog that Pacquiao needed the USADA testing for his own good.

"If Pacquiao doesn?t want to do this ... or believes he?ll be weakened by blood tests, then that raises question marks," De La Hoya wrote.

"People have to wonder why doesn?t he want to do this? Why is it such a big deal? A lot of eyebrows have been raised. This is not good at all. If you have nothing to hide, then do the test."

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