By John F. McKenna (McKenna): It has been two years since the issue of Olympic style drug testing came up and became an impediment to a fight happening between undefeated superstar World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (42-0, 26 KO’s) and Filipino icon WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao.

When the drug testing issue first surfaced it was seen by some as simply an excuse by “Money” Mayweather not to engage “Pacman” in the ring. After all, no boxing commission requires Olympic style drug testing. But Floyd was able to convince his legions of fans that he wanted to clean up boxing and create a level playing field for all fighters. There is some merit to that argument. Everyone has seen what has happened in baseball since the crackdown on the alleged use of steroids by some players.

In case anyone hasn’t noticed there has not been any 70 homerun seasons by any major league baseball player for quite some time. In fact even 60 home run seasons now seem to be a thing of the past. Nothing demonstrates more clearly the impact of Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDS) on athletes than to follow what has happened in baseball.

So there is some credence to what Floyd Mayweather Jr. says when he says he wants to level the playing field and he will not fight anyone who has not subjected himself to Olympic style drug testing. And while this writer has seen nothing to indicate that that Manny Pacquiao has taken PEDS, it would have been better for all involved if he had initially called Floyd’s bluff and taken the test.

Pacquiao’s delay in agreeing to “take the test” only fueled speculation by some of Mayweather’s supporters that he had taken PEDS to achieve his winning titles in eight weight divisions, won the coveted fighter of the year three times and fighter of the decade for the years from 2000 – 2009. The way Mayweather fans saw things was that if you have nothing to hide, “just take the test”. It is this writer’s belief that Pacquiao damaged his credibility by refusing the Olympic style testing. It is also my belief that Manny has never taken PEDS, but achieved his greatness through hard work, training and conditioning. In addition Manny has unbelievable speed and power which compliments his hard work and dedication to the sport.

Now that the Pacquiao camp has finally agreed to the testing that Mayweather requires of any fighter he faces, what conceivable reason would he have not to participate in a fight which would, at the age of 35, earn him far more money than he could ever earn fighting anyone else. The only conclusion that one can come to is that Floyd’s paranoia about losing his “0” trumps everything else, even money.