By Dave Lahr: Freddie Roach is unhappy that Floyd Mayweather Jr. won’t fight his guy Manny Pacquiao, and Roach is at a loss to try and figure out why he doesn’t want to fight Manny. In an article at Northjersey.com, Roach says this about Mayweather: “I think Mayweather wants to have that zero on his record so he can argue that he’s the best fighter of all time.” That’s one way of looking at it. Another way of looking at it is to see things through Mayweather’s eyes. He had concerns about Pacquiao possibly using performance enhancing drugs and tried to get him to agree to the random blood testing that he wanted. Pacquiao couldn’t or wouldn’t agree to what Mayweather wanted, and so they went their separate ways.
Mayweather made over $40 million for a fight against Shane Mosley, whereas Pacquiao made, according to Mayweather, $6 million for his fight against Joshua Clottey. Mayweather will fight Pacquiao next year without a doubt, but Pacquiao is going to have to agree to whatever Mayweather wants. Hopefully, Pacquiao’s bout against Antonio Margarito does really well on pay per view and with ticket sales at the Cowboy Stadium, in Arlington, Texas, because Pacquiao needs to be on even terms if he wants to be in a good position to land the fight with Mayweather. Floyd will still want to fight Pacquiao, but I don’t think the Filipino will be happy taking less.
Mayweather isn’t afraid of losing his unbeaten record, but what he is afraid of is not getting what he wants in the negotiations. That’s number #1. And number #2 is he’s afraid to fight someone that he suspects might be using PEDs. That’s why he keeps harping about wanting Pacquiao to take the random blood tests. It’s not about setting up roadblocks to keep the fight from being made. It’s about Mayweather wanting to make sure the fight is fought at an even playing field. If he’s nervous about Pacquiao’s body chemistry, then he won’t be able to concentrate as much on the fight. At this point, it’s in Mayweather’s head and he’s convinced that he has something to worry about with Pacquiao.
It’s up to Pacquiao and Roach, if they truly want to fight Mayweather, to help ease his concerns by agreeing to all the testing that he wants. It shouldn’t be a big deal. If Roach and Pacquiao want the Mayweather fight, then then they have to be agreeable to the blood testing before even wasting their time thinking about the fight. Think of the blood testing as prerequisite to dealing with Mayweather. You don’t get in the door with him unless you agree to what the man wants.
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