The boxing message boards have been going crazy over this the last day or so. I think I'm going to let this shake itself out for a few days before I really form an opinion on the whole thing. So far public opinion seems pretty split down the middle between the two fighters.
I guess the bottom line is Mayweather agreed to a fight and decided a different form of drug testing should take place then what has been the standard procedure for every other fight prior to this one. The fighters already get tested prior to and after every bout.
Olympic style testing can take up to 16 different random blood draws throughout the course of training...........up to and including the day of the fight.
Pacman has never tested positive or been linked to any steroid suppliers at any point in his career up until now.
There's pretty much 3 camps of thought at play here:
#1. Mayweather doesn't really want this fight and was going to continue making unreasonable demands until the fight got nixed or he got every possible concession he could get out of Pacquiao.
#2. Mayweather's camp was playing mindgames with Pacquiao and trying to psyche him out of his game. They went too far, Manny got pissed, his pride got the best of him and he decided he didn't want to jump through hoops for the payday.
#3. The only reason Manny would turn down the testing is because he's juicing during training and cycles himself off just before the fights.
For me, from the outside looking in it looks like Pacquiao already agreed to drug testing from several independant parties, including through the Nevada Athletic Commision, but are leery of having the Mayweathers make specific demands or be in control of the testing procedures.
Both sides really come off looking bad in this mess and it would be a very bad thing for the sport if the fight did not come off because of this.
|