The Mayweather vs Pacquiao Dream Fight May Have To Rumble In Court First
The road to a dream megafight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao hit a major pothole in the form of a lawsuit over accusations of steroid use.
Mayweather’s camp has said performance enhancing drugs are at the root of the Filipino fighter’s recent wins, and has called for Olympic-style drug testing for their planned showdown, even though both fighters have never been linked to any steroid use.
Under Nevada regulations, boxers are generally only tested just before the fight and in the dressing room afterward, and only urine is given. Mayweather’s camp wants blood tests that can find things urine tests can’t, such as use of human growth hormone, and they want them done by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency from the time the fight is signed until the fight is held.
Pacquiao’s side has agreed to both urine and blood testing, but doesn’t want testing immediately before the fight because Pacquiao believes giving blood so soon before a bout will weaken him.
Both sides failed to reach an agreement about the blood testing by Thursday, a deadline set by promoter Bob Arum. Therefore, Arum has cancelled the planned March 13 fight.
In a statement posted Friday on his Web site, Pacquiao says he is planning to file a defamation lawsuit against Mayweather Jr., the fighter’s father, and Golden Boy Promotions over claims that his character has been damaged and tarnished by accusations he says are untrue.
“Enough is enough,” Pacquiao said in the statement. “These people, Mayweather Sr., Jr., and Golden Boy Promotions, think it is a joke and a right to accuse someone wrongly of using steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs. I have tried to just brush it off as a mere pre-fight ploy but I think they have gone overboard.”
“These people think they are doing the sport a great service. They are not,” Pacquiao added. “To Floyd, despite all these accusations, may your Christmas be merry and I will see you in court, soon, too.”
Pacquiao’s Web site states that Mayweather’s camp is “asking too many unrealistic and unprecedented items on the bargaining table, including that of an Olympic-style drug testing.”
“I maintain and assure everyone that I have not used any form or kind of steroids and that my way to the top is a result of hard work, hard work, hard work and a lot of blood spilled from my past battles in the ring, not outside of it,” Pacquiao’s statement said. “I have no idea what steroids look like, and my fear in God has kept me safe and victorious through all these years.
“Now, I say to Floyd Mayweather Jr., don’t be a coward, and face me in the ring, mano-a-mano, and shut your big, pretty mouth, so we can show the world who is the true king of the ring.”
(From – EURWEB 12/28/09)
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