According to Wallace Matthews of the Boston Herald, there won’t be any steroid testing for World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao or Joshua Clottey for their March 13th bout at the Dallas Cowboy stadium, in Arlington, Texas. Matthews says that a spokeswomen reported to him that “Texas does not test boxers for steroids unless there is a probably cause.” Clottey, 32, isn’t pushing the issue with Pacquiao unlike Floyd Mayweather Jr, who insisted on random blood testing to be conducted before he would fight Pacquiao.
This eventually led to their fight negotiations crumbling entirely and causing Pacquiao to eventually look in another direction and choose Clottey instead of Mayweather. Clottey, who seems just glad for the opportunity to fight Pacquiao, says “I don’t want to do that [ask for steroid and/or human growth hormone testing] because I respect him [Pacquiao] too much. I don’t think Manny Pacquiao would do that. But if he does, then he’s cheating the sport.”
It’s unclear if a fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao can be made in the future because Mayweather will likely not be as accommodating about testing for performance enhancing drugs. If Pacquiao wants to leave it up to the Nevada Athletic Commission to decide what testing methods should be used, it’s unlikely that they will rule in Mayweather’s favor by directing that random blood tests be used to check for drugs such as human growth hormone.
In that case, there probably won’t be a fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao in the future. It might not matter financially, because Pacquiao will do well no matter who he fights. As we see with his bout against Clottey, the bout could end up selling 45,000 tickets for the Dallas Cowboy Stadium and will probably really well in pay-per-view as well. The only problem is that Pacquiao would miss out on a fight that would shape his legacy by not facing Mayweather, and obviously Pacquiao would like to finish his career with a win over Floyd.
There’s talk of Pacquiao possibly retiring after the Clottey bout if he can’t get a fight with Mayweather. Pacquiao has political aspirations and if he wins office, this could be it for him. Mayweather, with Pacquiao out of the picture in the sport, would then take over and regain his status as the number #1 fighter in all of boxing and would likely dominate the welterweight division without too many problems.
Beyond Shane Mosley and Pacquiao, there’s really no one in or around the welterweight division that can give Mayweather any kind of trouble.
For more Pacquiao vs Clottey updates, visit http://pacquiao-vs-clottey.cebuspace.com/.
Source: boxingnews24.com
No comments:
Post a Comment