Mayweather blames Pacquiao for bout's failure

LOS ANGELES, January 7, 2010 (AFP) - The proposed mega-fight between Mayweather vs Pacquiao is off, and Mayweather said the Filipino fighter was to blame after a failed attempt to salvage the bout through mediation. Mayweather said Thursday that Pacquaio's refusal to accept a compromise on drug testing procedures - including blood tests sought by Mayweather - had scuppered a fight that many say could have been the richest in history. "Throughout this whole process I have remained patient, but at this point I am thoroughly disgusted that Pacquiao and his representatives are trying to blame me for the fight not happening when clearly the blame is on them," Mayweather said in a statement on Thursday.
Not only did he want to fight Pacquiao, Mayweather said, he wanted to "whip" him. The fight had been tentatively scheduled for March 13 in Las Vegas. The two sides had successfully negotiated agreements ranging from a split of the purse to the type of gloves to be used. Mayweather's insistence on pre-fight anti-doping blood tests, however, proved a stumbling block. Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum said Wednesday the fight was dead, insisting Pacquiao wanted the fight but Mayweather didn't. On Tuesday the two sides had taken their cases to a mediator in hopes of a resolution. "In the end, the parties could not agree on a testing protocol acceptable to all," Daniel Weinstein, the retired federal judge who oversaw the mediation, said in a statement on Thursday. Weinstein also said that details of the discussions were confidential, but said both sides participated in good faith, submitting proposals and considering those of the other side. "The Mediator himself did not formulate, recommend or issue a Mediator’s Proposal," Weinstein said. "The Mediator did not make an evaluation or finding that any one of the many proposals considered by the parties was the correct protocol." Floyd Mayweather initially called for repeated blood testing up to the day of the fight. Pacquiao wanted a 30-day cutoff before the bout. Mayweather says he eventually agreed to a 14-day cutoff prior to the bout before medation began, but that Pacquiao wouldn't accept. "The truth is he just doesn't want to take the tests," Mayweather said. "In my opinion it is Manny Pacquiao and his team who are denying the people a chance to see the biggest fight ever," Mayweather added. The negotiations had been further muddied when Pacquiao filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Las Vegas alleging that Mayweather and others defamed him by falsely saying he had used performance-enhancing drugs. Pacquiao, who has supplanted Mayweather in the estimation of many as boxing's best pound-for-pound fighter, has earned titles in seven weight classes. Some have estimated their fight could bring each as much as $40 million.


source: mb.com.ph