Heroes & Villains

The welterweight match between Manny Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey was similar to your average date on a Saturday night. I equate it to asking out the nerdy girl who sits behind you in algebra class because the hot-looking cheerleader snubbed you at the last minute. Although the date wasn't a complete disaster, it still cost you $50.

Clottey fought a very conservative fight and had his hands covering his face for much of the fight. Actually, I can't even call it a fight. It was more of a sparring session for Pacquiao. Each time Pacquiao would unleash a flurry of punches, Clottey would cover up and wait for the barrage to end, and he rarely came back with his own combination. I had Pacquiao winning 10 of the 12 rounds, and I was being real generous with the two rounds Clottey (35-4, 21 KOs) eked out.

"He was just too fast," said Clottey, who, despite having a noticeable height advantage, appeared more concerned about not getting knocked out than winning the fight.

At this point of Pacquiao's (51-3-2, 38 KOs) illustrious career, he doesn't need another ordinary notch on his belt. He has fought and defeated the best fighters of his era and the only thing missing from his mantle to cement his legacy as the greatest fighter of our generation is a superbout with Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Pacquiao-Mayweather is the megafight all boxing fans are clamoring for. But there are two major roadblocks.

First, Mayweather needs to handle his business with Shane Mosley on May 1, which should be a very entertaining and competitive fight.

Second, the Olympic-style drug testing is still a major issue. Mayweather insists on random drug testing, but Team Pacquiao is reluctant to do it because Pacquiao is reportedly not fond of needles and he believes drawing blood hours before the fight zaps his energy.

Roach recently revealed on HBO's "Pacquiao-Clottey: The Road to Dallas" that Pacquiao agreed to a blood test hours before his first fight with Erik Morales, a fight Pacquiao lost and looked weary afterward.

The Mayweather camp, led by his father Floyd Sr. and Golden Boy Promotions executive Richard Shaefer, is extremely adamant about random drug testing because they suspect Pacquiao is using performance-enhancing drugs, despite the fact that the Filipino champion has never failed a drug test in his professional career.

"I'm the face of boxing," Mayweather boasted during a media event at L.A.'s Nokia Plaza. "I want to show that my sport is a clean sport. I'm fighting against the media, the Internet blogs. You have to be mentally strong to do that.

"At one time, fighters didn't have to take blood tests. Now, I'm taking a stand. In the sport of boxing, you don't go from ordinary at 25 to extraordinary at 30."

That last statement was a definite shot at Pacquiao without mentioning his name, and Pacquiao has not taken all the pot shots lightly as he recently filed a lawsuit against the Mayweathers and Golden Boy Promotions for defaming his name. The gloves are off, but unfortunately the Pacquiao-Mayweather war is being fought in courtroom instead of in the ring.

I find it real interesting, almost comical actually, that Mayweather, who has had more off-the-ring issues than Pacquiao, is the one calling Pacquiao a lawbreaker. Mayweather hasn't exactly been a model citizen, and his Uncle Roger is scheduled to appear in court on June 1 for allegedly beating and choking a female boxer in Las Vegas.

Floyd Sr. was the first to advise his son not to fight Pacquiao because, according to Floyd Sr., he has never seen a fighter dish out and absorb punishment the way Pacquiao has been able to do against bigger opponents. In Floyd Sr.'s mind there is no defense for a hard-charging Ivan Drago-like fighter, and that scares the heck out of the Mayweather camp.



Though there is no hard evidence to support the Mayweathers' claim that Pacquiao is on steroids, they have raised the legitimacy issue that surrounds today's athlete. Performance-enhancing drugs are about as addicting and as prevalent as reality TV shows. Athletes just can't seem to stay away from it and the paying audience can't get enough of it.

Whether Floyd Mayweather Sr.'s claim is true or not, the court of public opinion has been affected and the seed of doubt has been planted.

Pacquiao has agreed to giving blood and urine samples 14 days before the fight, but the Mayweather camp says that's not enough. Human Growth Hormones can't be detected through urine samples and blood testing is the only way to catch someone using HGH because it stays in someone's system a lot longer.

However, there are ways to avoid getting caught if you know when you'll get tested. For example, NFL players commonly use somebody else's urine or blood sample and stash them in the refrigerator up until the day of the tests. Then, when it's time to test, they hide the samples in their compression shorts on their way to the lab.

But I have a solution that both parties could agree on.

If I were Manny Pacquiao and I know that I'm clean, I would agree to the random drug tests on one condition - the fight would have to be at a catch-weight of 145 pounds.

If Pacquiao is being honest about his disdain for drawing blood hours before a fight because it makes him weak, then he should level the playing field by forcing Floyd Mayweather Jr. to shed two pounds off his 147-pound body.

This way, the ball is now on Mayweather's court and his team will have to decide if TWO MEASLY POUNDS is enough to tear down the most lucrative fight in boxing since Oscar De La Hoya fought Felix Trinidad in 1999. There are $40 million reasons why both men should fight.

Pacquiao wants Mayweather to cement his legacy and Mayweather needs Pacquiao to provide him with the biggest payday of his career (and we all know how much "Money" Mayweather loves that paper!). This fight needs to happen, and I don't see why it shouldn't.