Pacquiao: “Maybe he’s [Mayweather] afraid of me”

By Sean McDaniel: WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao said today in a teleconference that he believes that Floyd Mayweather Jr. doesn’t want to fight with him at this time. “Maybe he’s afraid of me or maybe he’s afraid for this fight.” Pacquiao is talking about how Mayweather asked for random blood tests to be taken from both he and Pacquiao before they could fight. The Nevada Athletic Commission only asks that urine be checked, and not blood.

However, Mayweather, 33, believes that only blood tests can detect human growth hormone and he wanted to have that test used before he would fight Pacquiao. Unfortunately, Pacquiao feels weak after having blood taken from his body, even small amount of blood. Pacquiao probably wonders why Mayweather never asked other fighters to submit to random blood testing in the best, and why he chose this time to start with the random blood testing.

Mayweather never did in the past ask his opponents for blood tests, but he is now. His next opponent, Shane Mosley, will be giving random blood tests for a fight with Mayweather. However, that won’t likely change Pacquiao’s opinion about not wanting to take them. He could take them, but it’s unlikely that Pacquiao will agree to have his blood tested within the 30 day window before the fight. Mayweather said recently that before he fights Pacquiao in the future, he’ll want him to take blood tests all the way up to the fight, and not just stopping at two weeks before the fight. That was Mayweather’s request for Pacquiao during their failed negotiations. However, that was a no go.

I would be surprised if Pacquiao really believes that Mayweather is afraid of him. Mayweather doesn’t seem like the type of fighter that would be afraid to fight someone. Mayweather could really just be worried about wanting to make sure that he’s fighting a clean fighter, and if that’s the case, you can’t really blame Mayweather for that. But he’s probably going to change his mind about this in the future, whether Pacquiao thinks he’s afraid or now.

Mayweather seems dead set on Pacquiao taking blood tests before he’ll fight him.
Pacquiao says “I believe I don’t really need to fight Mayweather, because what I have actually done in boxing right now, I think, is enough for me.” This is true. Pacquiao can retire after the Clottey fight and he’d still be one of the greatest fighters in history. By the same token, if Pacquiao chooses to get out of the sport without fighting Mayweather and without taking the random blood tests, some people will wonder about Pacquiao.

You can already see it. Some boxing fans feel that Pacquiao didn’t want to fight Mayweather, and saw the random blood tests as a reason to get out of a fight that might have ended badly for Manny. As good as Pacquiao is, some people feel there would be a good chance that Pacquiao would lose to Mayweather.

After all, Mayweather easily defeated Juan Manuel Marquez recently, a fighter that Pacquiao struggled against twice, and some people think lost both fights against the Mexican fighter. Mayweather beat Marquez like he was a routine sparring partner. It wasn’t even close. So if Pacquiao does decide on night fighting Mayweather in the future, there will be fans that will think that Pacquiao did it to avoid a loss.