Manny Pacquiao: Will Marquez Doping Scandal Hurt Pac-Man's Shot at Mayweather?

The shadow of doping continues to hang over the world of boxing, even (and especially) as Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez gear up for their third fight on November 12th and the specter of a mega-fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. looms large.

According to the New York Daily News, Angel Hernandez, Marquez's new conditioning coach, has been identified as Angel Heredia, one of the key figures from the BALCO scandal that landed company founder Victor Conte in prison and a host of star athletes, including track stars Tim Montgomery and Marion Jones, in the limelight for all the wrong reasons.

Hernandez served as a key government witness in the case against Conte and has since played a peculiar role in helping Marquez bulk up to 145 pounds—the heaviest fighting weight of his career—to fight Pacquiao. Marquez had arguably the worst showing of his career against Mayweather when he hit 142 pounds, his previous career-high for a fighting weight.

There's no evidence as yet that Marquez underwent any sort of doping at Hernandez's hand in preparation for this fight, though the presence of the former drug runner raises suspicions about Marquez's cleanliness and brings back to the fore a problem that has long plagued the boxing world.

Mayweather has been an adamant proponent of random, Olympic-style testing for all fighters, going so far as to requires that his opponents, most recently Shane Mosley and Victor Ortiz, submit to screenings before fights.

Mayweather's insistence on such standards has proven a significant sticking point in the negotiations between his camp and Bob Arum of Top Rank, who represents Marquez and Pacquiao, in arranging a Fight of the Century between Money May and Pac-Man.

This latest bit of news only gives Golden Boy Promotions, Mayweather's representation, more leverage, at least in the public eye, with which to force Pacquiao to subject himself to a more stringent testing regimen.

This, in turn, makes the prospect of a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight less likely. The last thing these two sides need is yet another issue, particularly one regarding doping, over which to bicker and argue.

Particularly with a date all but set for such a match. Leonard Ellerbe, one of Mayweather's many advisers, revealed this week that Mayweather's representation had reserved the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas for "the biggest fight possible" on May 5th. Arum, of course, responded by calling out Mayweather's people for trying to steal the spotlight ahead of Pacquiao's fight and coerce him into a one-sided negotiation.

If the mere reservation of a venue is enough to get these adversarial sides riled up, then what sort of apocalyptic clash can we expect to arise from the new suspicions of doping surrounding Marquez, one of Top Rank's most important clients?

As arrogant as Mayweather may be in the way he goes about his business, the onus will ultimately be on Pacquiao to submit himself to whatever drug testing Money May asks for—and on Arum to allow him to do so—if the fight everyone wants to see is ever going to happen.