The camp of Floyd Mayweather Jr. appears to be not receptive to the final proposal given by Manny Pacquiao’s promoter, further endangering what could have been the biggest fight in history on March 13.
According to Yahoo! Sports, Team Mayweather scoffs at Top Rank boss Bob Arum’s pitch about giving the Nevada State Athletic Commission the free hand to decide how much testing there would be for the fight and when it would take place.
“It does not make sense for this to become a commission matter," Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, who represents Mayweather in the negotiations, said in an interview with Yahoo! Sports.
Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and Manny Pacquiao AP file photo
“This is a contractual matter. The commission did not decide the weights or the purse split or how the foreign television rights would be sold," Schaefer added.
Under Arum’s proposal, there would be three blood tests — none within 30 days of the fight — unless the commission decided otherwise at a mid-January meeting.
"We will go along with what the Nevada commission decides. We will give them a blank check," Arum said in an Associated Press report Sunday (Monday in Manila).
Arum added that Pacquiao's side would go no further than the proposal. And if Team Mayweather would still not come on board by Monday, the veteran promoter said he will begin negotiations with Paul Malignaggi for the March 13 date the megafight was supposed to take place on.
“If this is Bob’s final ultimatum, then that’s what it is. That is his decision if he wants to take that position. I very much hope this fight can be made, but the reason it is at a standstill is because of the way they have handled things," Schaefer said.
Mayweather adviser Leonard Ellerbe said they would stand firm on their position on random tests.
“Random is random. We are all intelligent people and we know what random testing is. That is what we want and it has not changed," he told Yahoo! Sports’ Martin Rogers.
The dope item has derailed the otherwise smooth negotiations for the superbout between the reigning pound-for-pound king and his predecessor, who have earlier agreed to items on purse split, weight, and glove size.
The issue was borne out of the Mayweathers’ insinuations that Pacquiao is taking performance-enhancing drugs on his way to the top, something that the Pacman has vehemently denied.
The issue took a turn for worse as Pacquiao, who came clean in all his previous dope tests, expressed his intention to file charges against Mayweather Jr., his father Floyd Sr., and Schaefer for the dope allegations.
Source: GMANews.tv
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