For two months, the sport of boxing was preparing for the most anticipated boxing match since Muhammad Ali and George Foreman battled in “The Rumble in the Jungle” in 1974.
The Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao’s potential square off would have yielded both fighters $40 million a piece and was on pace to break pay-per-view records. However, Mayweather and Pacquiao recently called the fight off after Mayweather requested that Pacquaio be tested for steroids. In the statement below, Mayweather reveals why the biggest fight of this century may not occur.
“Throughout this whole process I have remained patient,” he says. “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.
“First and foremost, not only do I want to fight Manny Pacquiao, I want to whip his punk a–.
“Before the mediation, my team proposed a 14-day, no blood testing window leading up to the fight. But it was rejected. I am still proposing the 14-day window but he is still unwilling to agree to it, even though this is obviously a fair compromise on my part as I wanted the testing to be up until the fight and he wanted a 30-day cut-off. The truth is he just doesn’t want to take the tests.
“In my opinion it is Manny Pacquiao and his team who are denying the people a chance to see the biggest fight ever. I know the people will see through their smokescreens and lies. I am ready to fight and sign the contract. Manny needs to stop making his excuses [and] step up and fight.”
But while Mayweather’s clash with Pacquiao is on hold indefinitely, the pugilist almost came to blows with rapper Rick Ross at the opening of Vanity nightclub inside the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. According to reports, Mayweather bumped into Rick Ross and both of their entourages soon became confrontational until Diddy jumped between the two before the altercation had a chance to get violent.
–a.r.
