BoxRec

I know we're all bored to tears now over this, but stumbled across the final piece by tim smith whom broke the 'steroid email' controversy and disclosed the fight deal was first in trouble.

I think he crystallises it all fairly well.

NYC daily news

Tim Smith




Just when you thought boxing was about to get it right, and give sports fans the most significant match in the 25 years, it performed down to expectations.

Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and Manny Pacquiao won't be meeting in a mega fight in Las Vegas on March 13. The fight officially died over the weekend when Pacquiao agreed to fight Joshua Clottey at Cowboys Stadium. Mayweather is reviewing his options. In the greatest testament to how messed up the sport really is both boxers plan to fight in separate matches on Pay Per View on March 13.

How this happened is beyond the comprehension of anyone who hasn't ever spent a significant amount of time around boxings power brokers. The average person rightfully wonders why anyone would walk away from a $40 million pay day just because they don't want to take some random blood tests. That is what Pacquiao did.

You want to blame someone for killing the fight? Blame Pacquiao and his reps. Where else do you place the blame? You can scream that Mayweather didn't want the fight, but there wasn't anything to indicate that.

When Pacquiao and his reps included a potential deal breaking clause that would penalize Mayweather $10 million for every pound he was over the welterweight limit, he agreed to it. End of story. Mayweather was ready to sign the deal.

But Pacquiao became offended with Mayweather's clause that both fighters - and the important word here is "both" - agree to Olympic style drug testing, which included random urine and blood testing.

This was not a last minute clause that Mayweather came up with to try to scuttle the negotiations and get out of the fight. It was included in the initial proposal, as was Pacquiao's $10 million "fat" clause. But we didn't hear anything about this being a problem until Dec. 22 when word got out that the fight was in jeopardy.

Since then Pacquiao has waffled on just why he didn't want to take random blood tests and has even sued Mayweather and his camp for defamation.

In the current climate where every athlete who performs super human feats is under suspicion of being on performance enhancing drugs, the request for Pacquiao to take random drug tests is not so far fetched.

Mark McGwire's admission to using PEDs during his assault on one of the most hallowed records in baseball after years of denials makes Pacquiao's protests about being smeared by people's suspicions ring hollow.

To say that he has never tested positive for PEDs is not enough. Welterweight champion Shane Mosley has never tested positive for steroids in any of the urine tests that were administered by the Nevada and California boxing commissions. But he has admitted before a federal grand jury that he took a designer steroid called "the clear" and also used EPO.

Paquiao's promoter Bob Arum has been trying to bail on the fight for the last two weeks. He has consistently declared the fight dead, even as his stepson, Top Rank President Todd duBoef, was feverishly working with Golden Boy Promotions, the negotiators for Mayweather, to keep it alive. First Arum said he was going to put together a match between Pacquiao and Yuri Foreman, a newly minted 154-pound world champion who is also promoted by Arum.

Then this weekend he closed the deal for Pacquiao to fight welterweight Joshua Clottey, another boxer that he represents, at Cowboys Stadium on the March 13 date that had been set aside for Pacquiao-Mayweather.

This can't have been an easy negotiation for Arum. He was sitting opposite a pair of boxers that he groomed to become two of the biggest cash cows in the sport before they left him to ring up cash registers for themselves. That couldn't have been easy on Arum's ego. But I would hate to think that Arum undermined what was potentially the highest grossing boxing event in the sports history because of his dislike for De La Hoya, owner of Golden Boy Promotions, and Mayweather.

Strange things have happen in boxing, but not much stranger than the collapse of this fight that everyone was clamoring to see. In the end money wasn't enough to save it.

What we're left with is Pacquiao, a Filipino national hero, fighting Clottey, who hails from Brooklyn by way of Accra, Ghana in Africa, fighting deep in the heart of Texas. I could care less. And the sports world will shrug, because they don't know Joshua Clottey from Jacques Cousteau.

Cowboys Stadium would have been the perfect venue for Pacquiao-Mayweather because it is a sports event - the Super Bowl of boxing. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has booked boxing's version of a preseason game in Pacquiao-Clottey.

Too bad, because the time for Pacquiao-Mayweather is right now, not September or December. To use another bad football analogy, by failing to get Pacquiao-Mayweather done boxing has fumbled the ball on the goal line going in. If Pacquiao loses to Clottey, no one will care if he ever fights Mayweather.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more_ ... z0cPOvSLNM

The reality is if either man really wanted it they could've conceeded their position to make it happen. I guess they have a duty to do what's best for themselves, but as far as being fighters for fans they certainly aren't. I guess we get to see Pacquiao take a decent defense against Clottey, but really both fighters know what the fans wanted and chose to go a different route. Pacquiao because he is scared of needles or whatever other excuse he came out with and Floyd because he wants olympic style testing for no apparent reason other than Pacquiao looks to good to be legal. Like I said initially if either man really wanted it they could've come out at the 11th hour and said 'actually, forget about that olympic testing thing, I'll settle for the state controlled testing like I always have'. Or 'actually, I've had enough blood drawn in the past, a few more drops wont hurt'.

On a side note though, if I was Pacquiao I would have the olympic style testing in place for the fight against Clottey. Right or wrong he has something to prove in the eyes of many fans. Best way round it is to come out and do the tests just to prove a point. Then he can still come out and say the manner that Floyd went about things was disrespectful or whatever and he gets rid of any doubt in peoples minds.

Either Pacman is on HGH or he doesn't want to fight Mayweather!! End of!

Mayweather, the king of boxing!

Has Tim Smith actually shown a copy of this e-mail to anyone? If it actually does exist it then showing it to the public would fairly conclusively put the whole issue to bed wouldn't it?

If it exists that is.

For the record I think Mayweather beats him regardless, but I think Pacman would make him work like hell for it first.

thepocketrocket wrote:Either Pacman is on HGH or he doesn't want to fight Mayweather!! End of!

!

Sadly, for all Pacman has achieved. He will forever have the shadow of doubt over him.
Even if he decides to take the fight and testing requirements further in the year ... people will still ask "but why wouldn`t he take them back then .."

Its all too easy to put the blame onto the loudmouth Mayweather. But for him to agree to the $10million penalty for every pound he is over clause .. and simply because the $40million payday is what `Money-Mayweather` is in the sport for. I truly believe the blame stops with Pacman.
It truly is a sad end to the Manny Pacman story for me :(

I agree Tony.

Something has made Pacquiao suddenly very twitchy.

And with regards this 'email' i am pretty much certain it exists as Tim Smith wouldn't have made it up, otherwise he would lose his career over something so trivial.

Michael Moorer was rumoured to be the man who walked around saying that Ariza was 'sorting' Pacquiao's supplements.

Then he has suddenly declared he does not know where all the talk has came from... no smoke without fire and Moorer seems a bit of a loose cannon, hence being binned off.

thepocketrocket wrote:Either Pacman is on HGH or he doesn't want to fight Mayweather!! End of!

Mayweather, the king of boxing!

What a lot of tosh...... who is Mayweather to demand tests over and above what the Nevada State Athletic commission require.

People get it all wrong when they think Mayweather is the one who has been conceeding to get this fight on, him agreeing to the 10 million per pound over weight stipulation stands for fcuk all IMO. Its rediculous that its necessary a preventory precaussion like that needs to be put in place to stop the prick from cheating!

Pacquiao has conceeded plenty, most notably being the thing a lot of people fail to realise, at least it appears that way. The Nevada State Athletic commission do NOT require any blood testing, only urine samples. Pacquiao conceeded to 3 blood tests, that has to stand for something!

If Mayweather was a true warrior he would have fought Pacquiao regardless of his suspicions!

In boxing, dodgy hands wraps peds etc can cause death.

Take the test.

I saw a post on ESB where there was a Pac photo where he had a slightly portly face....and it was concluded he was definitely taking HGH as a result.

Heck, i must be taking it too !

at the end of the day, its just a shame that we didnt get to see, what could of been one of the best fights.

Tim Smith is seriously in the Golden Boy camp

Doesn't it make you wonder how Pacman has got even better as he climbed up in weight? I'm still perplexed as to how he managed to inflict such a savage beating upon Miguel Cotto?? I mean the guy started out as a light-flyweight FFS!

Boxingmad wrote:Doesn't it make you wonder how Pacman has got even better as he climbed up in weight? I'm still perplexed as to how he managed to inflict such a savage beating upon Miguel Cotto?? I mean the guy started out as a light-flyweight FFS!

I was surprised how well he held some of the shots landed by Cotto, but as for him moving up in weight its not the shock it appears to be. Pacquiao is a career weight drainer. He has been fighting in the 140's for years now he just drained to squeeze into the lower weight classes. I'm not sure whether people know this and choose to ignore it or just don't know it. There have been a bunch of weight drainers around over the past years who have had alot of stick about the weight they have rehydrated after weigh- ins but people rarley acknowledged it of Pacquiao. He has had a 4-5lb weight advantage over most fighters he has fought. In fact, I'd guess the first fight he was outweighed was when he fought David Diaz and that was by 1lb. Diaz was 148 and Pac 147 in the ring. He is now fighting somewhere close to his natural weight and it looks like it suits him, I guess his body just doesn't let him drain like he used to.

I guess the point I'm making is that he never really climbed up in weight, he just stopped draining. Maybe he is fresher at the weight now as he doesn't have to drain or maybe the standard of opponent has dropped. Either way, he's only marginally bigger than he was some four years ago.

The Tattoo,s on Pac tell me a Needle isnt His worst Fear.

Boxingmad wrote:Doesn't it make you wonder how Pacman has got even better as he climbed up in weight? I'm still perplexed as to how he managed to inflict such a savage beating upon Miguel Cotto?? I mean the guy started out as a light-flyweight FFS!

cotto and DLH drained themselves to make the weight, and pac seemed to put the weight on well. seems to be a combination of factors. clottey will also be coming in light, even though he's one of the bigger welters around, a guy who had seemed to outgrow welter a year or two ago. the terms for the opponent to come in small are for a reason - pac can dictate to most foes, and he gets the advantage. surely this, rather than all the steroids stuff, is the reason for his success above lightweight.

i think both pac and floyd have messed up, and so have the ppl around them.

i hope that both men's ability to sell PPVs plummets.

let's see how these events have affected the prestige of each fighter.

Scrap wrote:The Tattoo,s on Pac tell me a Needle isnt His worst Fear.

I'm scared of needles yet I'm covered in tattoos, completely different things.

As I have covered before, there are 4 types of "needle" phobias and Top Rank's press release did not state which one he has. Just that he is phobic of needles.

If the NSAC testing is so great why did Mosley pass with flying colours in 2003/04 when he was off his tits on chemicals.

Questions have been rightly raised about the validity of testing procedures, it's just been done in the wrong way.

But Pacman seriously needs to shoot his PR man. Between the needle phobia and stating he will be weakened by blood testing bollocks (he won't), this is one giant fornicate up and has tarnished him. Any non-Top Rank fighter is gonna wonder now.

Yes Tim Smith is less than an impartial journo on this, but he also speaks a lot of sense. Boxing should have done something about this. It was the biggest fight in almost 11 years.

HBO should've done something about this (no fight, no licence fee for a lesser opponent).

NSAC should've done something about this (all boxers adhere to our shiny new testing procedures).

Both fighters to an extent are to blame. One more so than the other IMO.

After all it's boxing. What more should we expect.

Can this be the last thread on this subject, and can any future ones be banned by the mods? I'm truly bored of this topic!

Autobarn wrote:

Boxingmad wrote:Doesn't it make you wonder how Pacman has got even better as he climbed up in weight? I'm still perplexed as to how he managed to inflict such a savage beating upon Miguel Cotto?? I mean the guy started out as a light-flyweight FFS!

cotto and DLH drained themselves to make the weight, and pac seemed to put the weight on well. seems to be a combination of factors. clottey will also be coming in light, even though he's one of the bigger welters around, a guy who had seemed to outgrow welter a year or two ago. the terms for the opponent to come in small are for a reason - pac can dictate to most foes, and he gets the advantage. surely this, rather than all the steroids stuff, is the reason for his success above lightweight.

This is my take also on this. Cotto & DLH drained themselves for Pacman whereas Manny was has grown into a weight that optimises his skills. Hatton to an extent was drained for his fight with Pacman but with hindsight his shaky night against Lazcano should have been a warning that Pac had the tools to win. Pacman's "superman" feats were all against weakened opponents.

winkveron wrote:Can this be the last thread on this subject, and can any future ones be banned by the mods? I'm truly bored of this topic!

I have to be honest, I've now lost all interest in this sorry saga. Mayweather & Pacquaio aren't going to fight - at least for now - so we might as well turn our attention to other topics, and indeed comment as and when they both fight again.

Berto v Mosley should be a decent tussle.

Conclusion? Not even close. This whole issue has fans split and it's clear as day that Smith is sat squarely on Mayweather/GBP's side of the fence.

winkveron wrote:Can this be the last thread on this subject, and can any future ones be banned by the mods? I'm truly bored of this topic!

Don't bother reading it if you don't want to. Nobody makes you click on the topic.

Happy Slapper wrote:

winkveron wrote:Can this be the last thread on this subject, and can any future ones be banned by the mods? I'm truly bored of this topic!

Don't bother reading it if you don't want to. Nobody makes you click on the topic.

We don't always have the choice when half the page of threads is about the same topic.