(I suspect Manny’s clean, but can we arrange a piss test for the guy on the left? image taken from Saddo Boxing.com)
Of Floyd Mayweather’s insistence that Manny Pacquiao submit to Olympic-style blood tests at any point prior to their mooted March 13 megabout, promoter Bob Arum argues such conditions prove “that Floyd never really wanted the fight and this is just harassment of Pacquiao.” Mayweather countered with “in a fight of this magnitude, I think it is our responsibility to subject ourselves to a sportsmanship at the highest level.” The Rumble’s Avi Korine seems to be in line with Arum’s assessment, opining, “Mayweather’s insistence on drug testing, to the point of threatening the biggest fight in boxing history, seems to me an acknowledgement of self-doubt.”
If the anger and distraction of being an accused steroid cheat might infuriate and shake Pacquiao’s focus, might the much more unsettling view be that the fighter opposite you has an illegal advantage you can’t compete with? Might this be the first time in his life that Mayweather has ever stepped into a ring with fear and doubt in his mind?
Mayweather has had forty fights to this point and has never insisted on special stipulations like this. Whether there is reason to be suspicious of Pacquiao or not it clearly reflects Mayweather’s concerns. He has fought forty times using the official rules of boxing, but this time he wants more. It’s kind of like asking for a 30 foot ring. Yeah, fights are always in a ring, so what’s the problem with a 30 foot ring? You can look at it like Pacquiao is scared of taking a drug test, but it is Mayweather who is asking for something unusual.