Mayweather-Pacquiao Bout Cancelled; Manny To Fight Clottey On March 13

The nail in the coffin of the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather bout came on Sunday, when Pacquiao officially agreed to fight Joshua Clottey on Mar. 13, the original date of his planned fight with Mayweather.

Though no announcement has been made yet, SB Nation’s Bad Left Hook expects it will be broadcasted on HBO pay-per-view.

With news Thursday that the super mega epic bout between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao was called off, it was only a matter of time before one of the fighters blamed the other. Mayweather was the winner, releasing a statement today, saying, in part, “First and foremost, not only do I want to fight Manny Pacquiao, I want to whip his punk ass.”

After weeks of back-and-forth between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao regarding pre-fight testing, a venue, and otherwise mundane footnotes to what many have called the fight of the century (which is only 10 years old, but still), it seems the fight’s been cancelled.

SB Nation’s Bad Left Hook mourns the loss:

After hinting it at late last week, Manny Pacquiao has followed through with his threat: he is suing Floyd Mayweather.

Actually, the lawsuit filed on Wednesday, which is “seeking compensatory and punitive damages for defamation,” named both Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and his father, along with Richard Schaefer and Oscar De La Hoya, according to FanHouse’s Lem Satterfield.

According to Martin Rogers of Yahoo! Sports the Nevada Athletic Commission has ordered drug tests for both Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. From Rogers’ report:

And SB Nation’s boxing blog, Bad Left Hook, had the following reaction:

But one of the problems is that Floyd Mayweather’s questioned Manny Pacquiao’s integrity by demanding that he submit to blood testing. Now, others are getting in on the act, as Oscar De La Hoya recently wondered aloud about Manny Pacquiao. SB Nation’s boxing blog, Bad Left Hook, had an emphatic reaction to De La Hoya’s implied allegations:

Of course, De La Hoya is closely tethered to Mayweather’s camp, so it’s no surprise that he followed Floyd’s lead in doubting Pacquiao. But where those doubts might have been intended to provoke Pacquiao into submitting to Mayweather’s testing program, they’ve instead left the Filipino legend so enraged that he’d walk away from a potential $40 million payout. That’s a lifetime’s fortune, but Pacquiao’s spent his whole life maintaining his integrity.

Promoters are working to get the on-again, off-again mega-fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather back on again. The LA Times reports that promoters for both sides are considering having an arbitrator decide how to conduct the drug testing for the potential fight, as a way to get around the impasse which has currently derailed any agreement.

The fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather has quickly gone from agreed upon to in jeopardy to now completely “off,” reports multiple sources. From The Philippine Star:

This whole situation is stemming from Mayweather’s insistence that both fighters submit to “Olympic-style random drug tests,” something Pacquiao refuses to do. Bad Left Hook has their take, and they see it all as one big game of chicken.

The hugely epic mega bout between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, which just last week was seemingly all but finalized with both sides agreeing to a fight date of Mar. 13 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, has hit a bit of snag. More specifically, Mayweather is threatening to pull out.

Part of the agreement between the two fighters was that Pacquiao would agree to “an Olympic-style random drug test at the request of Mayweather’s camp.” But now Pacquiao is refusing.

According to sources, and as reported by FanHouse’s Lem Satterfield, the MGM Grand in Las Vegas has been selected as the site of the epic boxing match between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, unofficially set to be held on March 13.

Both Cowboys Stadium and the Staples Center had been mentioned as possible sites.

With both fighters agreed to the bout in principle, all that’s left is deciding where to hold it: the MGM Grand in Las Vegas or Cowboys Stadium.

Pacquiao’s adviser, Michael Koncz, offers his prediction on the fight’s location: “I believe that it will end up at the MGM because both fighters want to fight in Las Vegas,” said Koncz. “I think that both fighters have expressed their desire to fight in Las Vegas.”

According to a report from the Los Angeles Times today, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is willing to break the bank to make the dream of a fight at his new Texas Stadium become a reality. After this week’s earlier reports had the Staples Center looking like a frontrunner to host the event—paying $20 million for the privilege—the Times reports that Jones has upped his offer to $25 million.

And while it’s too early to tell whether Jones in Dallas, the Staples Center promoters, or anyone else might be willing to pay such an outlandish sum, it certainly seems that numbers are moving closer and closer in that direction. And Jones, a man who just built the most ornate sports stadium in human history, sure seems like the type of man who’s willing to pay for the best. In this case, that might just mean forking over a cool $30 million.

Be sure to check back with Bad Left Hook. There is plenty more to come.

He lists five issues left to be resolved before the fight’s officially resolved, but among the five, this is definitely my favorite:

Mayo

For the other four stumbling blocks and more thoughts on the mega-fight to end all mega-fights, here’s the full article.

Floyd Mayweather, Jr. has agreed to the much-anticipated fight against Manny Pacquiao, according to ESPN (via SB Nation’s Bad Left Hook). Pacquiao is yet to agree to the terms of the bout, which would be fought at the 147 pound welterweight limit. Promoter Bob Arum is reportedly traveling to the Philippines to meet with his client and iron out the deal.

Other unknowns as of now are the venue and date, although the proposed date is March 13, which could apparently be pushed back to May 1.