Mayweather – Pacquiao: All but Over?

         This past Saturday was credit to one of the most anticipated match-ups in recent history between “Sugar” Shane Mosley and Floyd “Money” Mayweather. Now, as is well known, this fight came about because of the failed negotiations between Mayweather and Pacquiao due to drug testing procedure.

Since then, both fighters have taken replacement fights, and as expected, both won in a dominating fashion. The first of which was Manny Pacquiao on March 13, the proposed date of the Mayweather – Pacquiao showdown, where he had no trouble in a virtual shutout of Joshua Clottey who hid behind his defense while throwing limited punches.

Then came what may have been the best possible replacement fight on May 1 between Floyd Mayweather and Shane Mosley, which was considered to be the biggest test of Mayweather's career. The first round was much of a feeling out process that could have gone either way. In the second though, Shane caught Floyd on the chin with a flush right that shook him, followed by another later in the round that caused his knee to buckle. It appeared he was in trouble as he grabbed Mosley’s arm in an effort to stay up. However, trainer Naazim Richardson partially predicted how this fight would turn out when saying,

“Shane is going to punch him in mouth, then Floyd is going to grow wings, with fangs, and turn into a dragon…”

The rest of this quote is irrelevant. From that point on Floyd turned into that dragon Richardson talked about and dominated the rest of the fight, landing his right at will, at times assuming the role of aggressor and having Shane backing away.

All of this brings us back to the question, when are the two Pound for Pound best going to get in the ring together? Well, it would appear as never, seeing as both parties seemed unwilling to back off their own stance on the drug testing procedure for the fight. But, there was movement in one camp when Pacquiao stated he would entertain the idea of taking blood test as close as 14 days to the fight on his website saying,

"I am willing to help the sport for the future of the sport. I do not want to see anyone cheat or cheat this sport. For that reason I am willing to consider taking blood [tests] as close as 14 days prior to the fight, as long as my opponent does the same, and it is not a lot of blood, just enough to test.”

However, it may be a while until these negotiations continue as Manny has his Philippine Congressional elections next week, then taking a vacation with his family. And Mayweather is sure to want to take a slight break after the fight with Mosley. Hopefully all goes well and we will all be watching a clash of the two pound-for-pound titans this fall/winter. So, until then we can only hope the action continues, as April was a great month for the sport of boxing.