Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather: 10 Things Standing in Way of the Fight

Now that Floyd Mayweather is back on the boxing world's mind after ending a 16-month layoff with his controversial knockout win over Victor Ortiz, the never-ending discussion of what is holding back the Manny Pacquiao-Mayweather fight has heated up yet again.

With Pacquiao having his own fight on the horizon in November—and if Pacquiao beats Juan Manuel Marquez in that rubber match in little over a month's time—most fight fans speculate that the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight may finally happen next year.

Here are the 10 things that are still preventing the mega-fight, one that could go down as one of the biggest bouts in boxing history.

Drug Testing

Floyd Mayweather has his demand that he and Manny Pacquiao both go through Olympic-style drug testing in order to have the fight take place, as he thinks Pacquiao may have used performance-enhancing drugs during his career.

Pacquiao doesn't have an issue with the testing itself, but with the request the two fighters give blood on fight day as well.

Pacquiao feels that giving blood in the hours leading up to the fight would weaken him, causing him not to perform at the same level as usual, and putting him at a disadvantage.

Pacquiao shouldn't worry about the effects, if any, the drug tests might have on him. Both fighters would  take the same exact test at the same times, so neither fighter would enter the ring with any kind of advantage or disadvantage due to the drug testing.

Egos

With both fighters not willing to budge on their requests in order to make the fight happen, both Mayweather and Pacquiao have let their egos get in the way of the fight.

One would think this would be an easy fix, but it has been well documented that Mayweather has one of the biggest egos of all sports stars, and his ego may never be toned down.

Juan Manuel Marquez

Before any serious talk about a Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather fight can continue, Pacquiao must beat Juan Manuel Marquez in their rubber bout in November.

With Pacquiao having major difficulties with Marquez in their first two meetings, this is no slam dunk.

Mayweather would want no part of Pacquiao if he is beaten by Marquez and would launch an all-out Twitter assault instead of staging an assault on Pacquiao in the boxing ring. 

Mayweather's Court Cases

Floyd Mayweather can't seem to stay out of legal trouble, and those court dates—and the possible punishment—could halt the fight before it ever begins.

Forget Manny Pacquiao's case against Mayweather, as it would be highly likely that Pacquiao would drop the case against Money May if the fight is ever to be seen.

Keeping Pacquiao and Mayweather out of court will increase the chances we see them in the ring.

Rumors

One thing that has definitely hurt the fight's chance of taking place is rumors.

There are hundreds of rumors swirling around Pacquiao and Mayweather, and most of them are started by the media and fans.

From who is dodging whom, to what one said about the other, these rumors usually turn out to be false and keep a salty taste in the mouth of everyone involved with setting up the fight.

Pacquiao's Political Career

Although it's not widely mentioned as a holdup in the fight process, Manny Pacquiao's political career takes away time that Pacquiao could be focusing on boxing.

Straight up, being a politician of any caliber takes a tremendous amount of one's time, and taking up time of a person who is also a professional boxer cuts down on certain times of the year Pacquiao could fight and focus 100 percent on fighting.

Pacquiao would have been better off beginning his political career later, so he would have one less distraction to worry about and could focus more on getting the fight everyone wants to see signed, sealed and delivered.

Mayweather Has Other Fights on His Mind

Even though there is a perfect spot to set up the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather showdown if Pacquiao beats Juan Manuel Marquez, Mayweather has been talking about two other fights more than a possible Pacquiao fight.

Mayweather has been entertaining fans over his Twitter talking trash about Victor Ortiz and Amir Khan.

He has said that both fighters would have to beat a fighter he has chosen in order to get in the ring with him, and that would make a logical time line of one year before we could see Money May in the ring again.

Mayweather said if Ortiz could beat Andre Berto in a rematch of Ortiz's biggest win to date, or if Khan could beat the young Jessie Vargas—part of Mayweather's team—then the fighters could get a crack at the undefeated Mayweather.

Fans May Want Fight More Than the Fighters

Although the a Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather fight would be one of the biggest fights in boxing history, maybe the two fighters are content with not facing each other, and instead thriving off the publicity that surrounds the two fighters every day.

Both Pacquiao and Mayweather know there will be a huge audience for whatever fight each of them sets up, so they may feel it's not necessary to square off against each other.

With the debate of when the mega-fight might happen, the fighters will still cash in huge pay days for whatever fights they take, so the talk about how much money both would make really isn't as big of a deal as everyone has made it out to be.

Bob Arum

Floyd Mayweather and Bob Arum's rocky relationship may keep the fight from ever happening.

Mayweather has long hated Arum after he failed to meet financial needs he demanded from Arum, and has tried to avoid him as much as possible.

With Arum being Manny Pacquiao's promoter, Mayweather may not want to have Arum included in the fight. The fight is supposed to gross the most a fight has ever raked in, and Arum is set to take in a large sum of the fight's financial intake.

Too Much Hype

As the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather fight talk gets bigger and bigger, the tremendous hype surrounding the fight only gets bigger.

Now the hype is so large that if the fight ever does take place, it will be a daunting task for the fighters to make the fight live up to expectations that may be too big to fulfill.

Everyone involved with trying to get the fight off the ground is to blame. Because they have let the fight talk get out of hand, we may never see the biggest fight left to see in the sport of boxing.