Mayweather-Pacquiao "is off" according to Arum

From what I’ve read Mayweather was never going to budge off his random testing. Manny was going to go up to 24hours before the fight.

Just stop it. Both sides need to be locked in a room and just hammer out some kind of deal. I wish that there was some mechanism in which all other fights would be stopped until this one got signed (e.g. Floyd could not sign with Paulie and Manny couldn’t sign with Yuri). Truly a face in hands moment for all hardcore and casual fans of boxing….

2 very worthy PPV potential fights that I would have no problem with back to back in March are: Pacquiao-Bradley and Mayweather-P. Williams

I don’t want to turn this into a UFC vs Boxing argument, but at least in the UFC, you have a single promoter who forces guys to fight each other (but it also helps that they trimmed the weight classes to only 4 over there).

Insidesports.ph, Standard Today, Viva Sports and BoxingScene.com understand that the Mayweather handlers led by Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer and Mayweather’s top adviser Al Hayman had tried to convince the fighter to agree to the 24-day blood test proposal which Pacquiao had agreed to and which medical experts had said was more than sufficient to detect any traces of performance enhancing drugs, but they were turned down by Mayweather resulting in the fight being called off.

Boxingscene.com (via “a tommy point” in BE comments)

I didn’t think Pacquiao and Mayweather were stupid enough to walk away from +$40 million a piece. I mean, I’m stunned. I can’t believe they actually f****d this up.

On the surface, and I say this only knowing what I’ve read, this looks like Mayweather wasn’t really interested in fighting Pacquiao, and did his best to get out of the fight and still save face. To go into mediation, and not budge an inch, for no good reason whatsoever is pretty awful, IMO. Of course, Manny could have just sucked it up and pummeled his ass in the ring for putting him through this, so neither side completely escapes blame. But Manny was willing to do the blood tests up until 24 hours before the fight, and do one right after. Anything he might have been taking would have been caught in that timeframe. ANYTHING. If Mayweather was really just concerned about the cleanliness of the sport, then that should have been sufficient. Plain and simple, in my eyes, Mayweather chickened out.

As for the back to back PPVs being talked about, I won’t be getting either. I’m actually pretty disillusioned right now. And that’s saying something, as I’ve been a boxing fan for quite some time. I’m actually hoping both Pacquiao and Mayweather lose their replacement fights (I know, its a longshot, but I’m feeling spiteful), so it kills any chance they have of making a fight this big. If they can’t come to an agreement to make a fight that could be talked about for decades, make both of them a whole ton of money, and would be huge for the sport of boxing worldwide, then they don’t deserve my money.

Zero – I think the mediation was for 24 days vice hours

Absouloute BULLSHIT!!!!!

I think we’re all on the same page here as far as the result of the negotiations. The world will go on, but a little bit of it just died.

Hopefully they get something done after their March bouts. Maybe in September. I know this is not what everyone wants but it’s better than never having it at all. It’s dissapointing that these two promotions act like children and let emotions get involved when business is being conducted.

But what we’ve heard indicates that Pac’s team was willing to at least compromise on the contested points, and Floyd’s team refused to budge. If that’s the case, it really does seem to call Floyd’s commitment to the fight into question. He’s not a stupid guy, not even his biggest detractors would dare accuse him of being anything less than a savvy businessman. He knew going into this that he would make a demand like USADA/random testing up to fight night testing, they’d negotiate (hard) and end up somewhere short of that.

If he didn’t budge on the position, he didn’t want the fight. We don’t know for sure that they didn’t budge on the position, but everything out there right now indicates that Floyd didn’t want this fight.

… the stupidity rampant in this sport.

its not like it still cant be made. it just wont happen in march. its not like the ufc’s royal fuck up and not signing fedor to fight in the ufc vs lesner.

if they put the bullshit aside and floyd shows he has a pair, they will fight this year.

above all, i agree with the front page quote about it puts a dent in boxing as a competitive sport.
this is why people like team sports…..there is a superbowl…there is a championship…the teams that play through the season will end up playing one another. IMAGINE the outrage if the number 1 teams in the divisions did not play one another at the end of the season?

This is what it’s like to be a combat sports fan.
It also adds to what I posted on here the very first time I heard this fight “attempting” to be made: Mayweather never intended to take this fight. Pacquiao has never failed a drug test. Floyd has no basis for expecting different testing in this one. Pacquiao is the one moving up in weight, and has so his entire career. He’s fighting the naturally larger man that will run the whole fight…why should he cede anything other than what normally takes place in any high level fight?

At the end, I never actually got excited about this fight…b/c I refused to believe it would happen. If floyd didn’t get every assurance possible in his favor, i knew he wouldn’t bite/sign the contract.

- Unlimited random blood testing up to 24 days before the fight
- Blood test immediately after the fight
- Unlimited random urine testing for the 24 days before the fight

They also brought in experts to state how that didn’t leave a window for cheating (which probably isn’t true – if there was a less invasive way to test effectively, WADA/USADA would use that instead). But it would take some real cojones to try cheating with that kind of timetable.

From there, Floyd made no counterproposal.

That said, it’s not like Floyd didn’t make concessions elsewhere. He backed away from no 50/50 and agreed to 50/50. He agreed to let Pac come in with his own gloves. He reportedly agreed to a very stiff penalty for coming in over weight. This still seems like a really stupid issue to me to sink the deal, and maybe Mayweather did get cold feet (or on the converse, maybe Manny’s camp does give him some illegal substances that only show up in blood tests but clear the system quickly), but I think it’s hard to say that Mayweather was ducking. If he was, it never would have gotten this far.

Let’s just move on.

I’ll leave aside all of the natural disgust and anger that this bile factory has produced so far and just say that I’m disappointed that the fight won’t happen. Obviously, it had the potential to match any great fight in history, on every possible level and proportion, so the fact that it won’t happen is a sucker punch to the guts no matter what you think of the fighters themselves.

One thing that I’m not disappointed about is this: Neither guy will get the glory of fighting and beating the other. They don’t deserve it, frankly. None of the players involved in this mess should be rewarded in any way – financial or otherwise – for carrying on the way they did. If you reward this behavior in a fight this big, that just means we can look forward to more and more of it at all levels of the sport. And given all the lawyering, womanly mindfucking and bitching/caterwauling that’s gone on, this could only help to finish burying what is already the ghost and bones of sport I originally fell in love with as a kid. Not to put to fine a point on it, but when and where I grew up Boxing was still a man’s sport. It had it’s shifty operators, clowns, dirty laundry, etc. But all this hyperventilating horseshit in public is like a foreign language to me. It goes far beyond the “art of the deal”, most of which was (and should) be waged in private. That’s how actual men do it.

But hasn’t been a negotiation. It’s been Reality T. And like most of those shows it stinks, whether it’s canceled or not.

Sorry, maybe there was some bile I had to puke up after all. Fucking drowning in it lately.

since the kings have abdicated their thrones.

You all are smart enough to figure out that Floyd did want this fight and all Manny had to do was say yes.

For Christ sake, Floyd agreed to many demands to make this fight happen. If you’re under the impression that he didn’t want this fight, you’re simply losing it.

I feel bad for Manny and to his biggest fans most of all. All he had to do was say he would take the damn tests and this would be over with, but now I’m sure there’s going to be a dark cloud over him for the rest of his career unless he agrees to finally take the damn tests.

I wonder if Golden Boy is still gonna not allow their fighters fight Manny unless he takes the same tests?

Let’s face it, without Golden Boy . . . Manny has nothing

Is Tim Bradley with Golden Boy?

Williams would be a great opponent for Mayweather at 154 but I heard he will be healing some cuts for a few months.

In defence of Manny, what really is bothering him and his camp is the principle (in my opinion) in how the request/demand for a random blood test was made. It was in an assumption that Manny is taking drugs to enhance his performance which was never proven. There are many factors that the accusation from Mayweather’s camp is very insulting;
1. Manny was never associated with any known illegal drug users;
2. Manny has always passed the test… it may just be a urine test but it always been clear of any illegal substance
3. the “known” bitterness of Mayweather Sr… for some reasons, all his interviews appears to be so bitter about Manny’s accomplishments… always belittling Manny’s performance.

I can say that if there were never any accusations at all and Mayweather Jr added the random blood testing as part of the negotiation, Manny “may” have agreed to it. But the fact that Mayweather’s camp has been posting/announcing what appears that they are sure Manny is taking illegal substances without any shed of proof… that makes it very insulting and deserves a retaliation the only way Manny can do. Manny can either resist and not be too flexible with the dates and/or sue Mayweather and all the people involved in this smearing campaign.

I find it so difficult to accept comments from people that will conclude right away that a certain person is taking illegal substance with no proof and very sure about it even if the person have been passing the test. Why make an accusation like that? How are you brought up? Don’t you have any morals at all? Give some time to reflect or be calm and think about it not reacting on the situation.

PONDER THIS:
Is it really right for any of you here to accuse someone of using illegal substance without an iota of proof and then expect that individual to cooperate with your other demands? How will that make you feel?

Think about this also; Yes, this would have been lucrative for both fighters and you will think that both are fools to not give in to those demands/conditions. But remember, how each individual spend those millions after a fight.

Mayweather: all I see and read about him (on-line) is how he spends so much in gambling, partying, etc.

on the other hand

Manny: he donates part of what he wins back to his community; contributes to many charitable organizations; helped the victims of the floods; and these are all known in the internet.

These actions of each individual can tell you enough about a person. Now, let’s go back to using illegal substance. Who do you really believe? Just be logical for a moment and think each of their character?

Just my 2 cents. Thank you for your time.

“Arum added that the fight could also wind up at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas or perhaps in Dallas, where Cowboys owner Jerry Jones made a strong pitch to bring Pacquiao-Mayweather to his new stadium.”

Ha ha is Jerry Jones really gonna want to host a Yuri Foreman fight? No offense meant to Foreman, but I don’t think Jones wanted boxing to be a regular thing there, he just wanted Pac-May because of how huge it was. I know Pacquiao is a huge attraction on his own but could they fill that place for a different fight?

if neither were to ever fight again, I’m willing to bet that history would treat Manny’s record with much, much more respect.

That’s a safe bet. None of what Mayweather has done in the last three years of his on-again/off-again is particularly impressive, other than from the standpoint of very shrewd matchmaking. I mark it as a collapse of the decline of Boxing coverage by the mainstream media. Boxing fans used to be much more knowledgeable on average, and could more easily smell a mismatch from a mile away.

Yuri Foreman is going to jab Pac-Man to death. Yuri is like 6 feet tall. That’s what you get for disappointing all of boxing Pac-Man, you’re gonna get beat by the Kosher Krusher. I’ll be back in march to bump this.

Would be funny to watch at least..

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!