By Babatis Banda: For all we can still remember, the initial stumbling block for a fight with Floyd Mayweather junior was a complete refusal to take any form of Olympic style Random Blood Testing for the fight. At that time, the Mayweathers had a strong suspicion that Pacquiao could have been taking banned substances. It was not difficult to see why.
Pacquiao was blazing through bigger guys and mincing them too. It was also evident that Pacquiao was taking in too much punishment, but it seemed not to affect him. Remember the lump that Cotto put on Manny’s ear? It was the size of a pear, yet Pacquiao proceeded to sing at a gig that evening.
At that time, we were assured that Pacquiao would never submit to the demands of Floyd Mayweather whatever the case could be, unless there was a cut-off date to the testing. In fact, Arum specifically made it clear that Pacquiao did not need Mayweather and they both can go their separate ways. This is how the Pacquiao Vs Clottey fight was hastily put together in the middle of negotiations.
A few years down the line, Floyd has maintained that Pacquiao has to take the test for the fight to happen. In fact, the little space he was willing to give-in has changed. This time it will have to be a real Olympic style RBT to the last day of the fight, no funny cut-off dates that create windows to cheat. The 50-50 revenue split went with the wind. This time, Pacquiao is not a champion and worse, he lost his last fight to Bradley. Pacquiao’s resume has gone bad by another loss, effectively making it four (4) official losses. As we speak, Pacquiao is still trying to draw a clear line between him and Marquez for a fourth time. It took Pacquiao a whole lot of time to pick an opponent, but during that time, no Mayweather name was mentioned.
To accuse Mayweather of cowardice is sheer naivety and a way to burry and avoid real issues. Mayweather has called-out Pacquiao on a number of occasions. To the contrary, Pacquiao has never called out Mayweather, he has simply mentioned his desire to fight Mayweather and this has been after being asked questions by the press. Even if Pacquiao called out Floyd, we know decisions are made by Arum, and Pacquiao has very little say. It is as if, Arum holds something on Pacquiao. I say this because Pacquiao is a big name, he can manage himself if he really wanted, and the fact that he will be with Arum for the whole of his last career years really make me ask hard questions on what it is that Arum has on him.
Why is Pacquiao giving in to what he stubbornly refused to do earlier? Is it that he is trying hard to make the fight happen? Is it that he realizes that Mayweather does not need him? Is he realizing that his fortunes are intertwined with Mayweather? Is it that he is simply on the shorter end of the stick? Is it that he is no longer on banned substances? Well, your questions must be just as good as mine, but one thing for sure is that Pacquiao is on a weaker position. If he is trying hard to make the fight, he has to submit to the wishes of Mayweather, the same way Mayweather submitted to the wishes of Oscar Dela hoya to make the super fight that broke the revenue records. That way, we will know he is trying.
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