The Hottest Boxing Storylines for the Week of March 22

You didn't really think that Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao would play nice forever, did you?

It appears that the gloves have finally come off this week, with the fighter's teams exchanging some harsh rhetoric as we now sit inside of six weeks until the big fight.

What was the issue that led to some pretty harsh verbal fisticuffs?

You'll never guess.

Next we turn to the latest networks to grab a piece of Al Haymon's Premier Boxing Champions pie.

Turning the clock forward, a couple of weeks late, we take a look at Juan Manuel Marquez's future plans, Jhonny Gonzalez's featherweight title defense Saturday and Kell Brook's return to the ring for his first title defense.

These are the hottest boxing storylines for the week of March 22.

Anything to the Mayweather-Pacquiao Drug Testing Story?

Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

You didn't expect the era of good feeling that has dominated the promotion for Mayweather vs. Pacquiao to last until May, did you?

If so, then the joke's on you.

ESPN.com's Dan Rafael reported on Friday that Pacquiao's adviser Michael Koncz had attempted to get Mayweather's team to agree to a $5 million fine in the event that either man fails a drug test before or after their May 2 superfight in Las Vegas.

Mayweather's lawyers declined the request, and Leonard Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions, had a few unkind words to say about Koncz and his actions:

"

Michael Koncz is an idiot, and Manny Pacquiao should be ashamed to have him as his representative, in my opinion. It's obvious he didn't read the contract. Why would he have his fighter sign something he was not happy with? The deal was negotiated up and down by his promoter [Bob Arum of Top Rank] on behalf of Manny with Floyd and Mayweather Promotions, and it's been well documented in the media for quite some time.

If this moron didn't convey his fighter's wishes when the negotiation was going on, that's their problem. This is a lame-a** attempt to generate publicity.

"

So, is this a story, a non-story or something in between?

Mayweather and Pacquiao have a well-documented history of issues when it comes to drug testing. It's derailed previous attempts at making the fight, and Pacquiao sued Mayweather—who settled out of court—for defamation related to comments about possible use of performance-enhancing drugs. 

The two men agreed to random testing by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) in the contracts for the fight, and both men have already been tested under that protocol. 

Koncz told Rafael that Pacquiao's team didn't try to write the substantial fine into the contract for fear that it would derail delicate negotiations, and he called this development "disheartening."

The issue of PED use is always a sticky wicket, and in the absence of any sort of evidence we're not going to cast aspersions or speculate about the motivations of anyone involved here.

But will this remain the subject of questions and debate among fans?

It would certainly seem so.

People see what they want to see and hear what they want to hear.

PBC Strikes Again

Alex Trautwig/Getty Images

Fresh off its successful NBC debut and with upcoming cards on both that network and CBS, Haymon's Premier Boxing Champions series has struck another major television deal, per BoxingScene.com, bringing prime-time boxing to ESPN and ABC.

A multiyear agreement between Haymon and ESPN was announced on Wednesday.

PBC will begin airing on ESPN and its various platforms with a show on July 11 that will replace Friday Night Fights and is expected to include top-flight fighters in significant matchups. The program will also air on ESPN Deportes—the network's Spanish-language channel—as well as on various online platforms such as as WatchESPN, Apple TV and Xbox Live. 

The ABC portion of the deal is expected to include Saturday afternoon fights.

All of this comes on the heels of Haymon securing deals with NBC, CBS/Showtime and Spike TV, among others, to bring major network attention to the sport of boxing.

That's a lot of network weight and muscle behind the sport of boxing, and it really can't be treated as anything but bad news for anyone not aligned with Haymon, the reclusive power broker with well over 100 fighters in his stable. 

But what about the sport itself?

Haymon's reach is extensive. He controls many of the top names in the sport, including pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather, unified junior welterweight champion Danny Garcia and light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson—the latter two will be featured on network PBC cards—and he has a growing number of major platforms to showcase them and the sport as a whole.

Reaching potential viewership pools that extend into the millions during prime time is a definite boon for the sport. The long-term impact is obviously yet to be measured out, but so long as matches continue to be compelling—at least on paper to draw people in because it's a crapshoot in the ring many times—the sport should grow.

Time for Juan Manuel Marquez to Call It Quits?

Jeff Gross/Getty Images

Marquez, the Mexican legend and four-division world champion, hasn't fought since taking a dominant decision over Mike Alvarado last May and has made no secret of his desire to capture a world title in a fifth weight class.

That would make Marquez the first fighter in Mexican history—a rich tradition to say the very least—to capture world titles in five divisions.

But his trainer Nacho Beristain, per ESPN Deportes (h/t Miguel Rivera of BoxingScene.com), believes his main man could elect to call it quits due to lingering knee issues that have prevented him from giving 100 percent while training. 

The latest word we had from deep inside the 41-year-old's camp was that, per Lem Satterfield of The Ring Magazine, he was hoping to secure a welterweight title fight with England's Kell Brook.

Brook, the IBF champion, will face mandatory challenger Jo Jo Dan on March 28 in Sheffield. 

It remains to be seen whether Brook would entertain the notion of facing Marquez, with the more lucrative possibility of an all-Brit showdown with Amir Khan on the table, or if "Dinamita" will once again be left shut out of a championship opportunity. 

And if he is, you could understand why he's no longer in the mood to take stay-busy fights that don't get him closer to the goal.

He says, per ESPN Deportes (h/t Miguel Rivera) that no decision has yet been made.

What say you, boxing fans?

Is it time for Marquez to hang 'em up? Or should he fight on?

What Shot Does Gary Russell Jr. Have Against Jhonny Gonzalez?

Harry How/Getty Images

Gonzalez doesn't seem to have a whole lot to gain in the ring against Russell Jr., a former prospect who padded his record against a slew of truly terrible opponents before easily being handled by Vasyl Lomachenko in his first attempt at a world championship.

The 33-year-old Mexican regained a share of the featherweight championship with a stunning one-round blowout of then-undefeated rising star Abner Mares in 2013. Since then he's defended against a low-level challenger and one highly shopworn compatriot.

But a big cash-in fight has thus far eluded him, and that's largely why he's facing Russell Jr. Saturday night at the Palms in Las Vegas.

Russell Jr. is managed by—wait for it—Haymon. 

The equation for Gonzalez is simple.

Win on Saturday night, which he should, and the door unlocks to bigger potential fights against Haymon clients like Mares and Leo Santa Cruz. 

Russell Jr., on the other hand, should be happy just to be there.

He's done nothing to earn one title opportunity, much less two. 

There's definite talent there—his hand speed is tremendous—but he was steered to the big time so softly that he wasn't ready once the competition level rose.

Can Special K Continue His Rise to the Top?

Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

Brook told everyone who would listen that he was the goods.

And he went out on the road last August and outboxed budding star Shawn Porter to take a convincing decision and a welterweight title back across the pond.

Brook was stabbed and sustained serious injuries while vacationing after the fight, forcing him to miss significant in-ring time while recovering, and his first defense will come Saturday night in Sheffield against mandatory challenger Jo Jo Dan. 

Dan is an awkward fighter who likes to throw punches in bunches and outwork his opponents. This is the type of fight that could be dangerous for Brook, given the long layoff, the tricky style of his foe and the much larger fights looming on the horizon. 

Khan seems the most likely next up, should Brook take care of business with his mandatory and not suffer a letdown.

That's a huge fight in England—pretty big all over to be honest—and a grudge match between two fighters who don't seem terribly fond of each other.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves.

Dan is an underdog, but he's not taking the trip just to see Big Ben. He wants to win, and Brook can't underestimate him.