Pacquiao vs. Marquez: Drug Testing Will Bring Mayweather Fight to Fruition

The dark cloud of doping allegations surrounding Juan Manuel Marquez has created a surprising silver lining for Manny Pacquiao that might finally land him in the ring with Floyd Mayweather Jr. for the Fight of the Century.

In light of recent revelations that Marquez's trainer Angel Hernandez was once a prominent drug runner for Victor Conte, the founder of the infamous Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO), Dinamita has been adamant about his willingness to submit to a full battery of tests, on one condition:

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Whatever testing they want to do, blood or Olympic, I am ready to do it. We’ll do it, no problem, as long as he does it too.

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Pac-Man's willingness (or lack thereof) to submit to testing from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has been a sticking point for Mayweather, who has long insisted that his opponents, including Shane Moseley and Victor Ortiz, get screened before entering the ring with him. Bob Arum, Pacquiao's promoter, insists that his client has already agreed to random, Olympic-style testing.

Marquez's remarks, then, would give Pacquiao the perfect opportunity to put his money where his mouth is and prove that he is both willing to submit to testing and clean enough to fight. That way, he can put the ball firmly back in Mayweather's court to show the world that it's Money May's camp, not his, that is holding up the one bout that everyone (and their mother) wants to see.

As far as public perception is concerned, Mayweather took a step forward of sorts this week when his camp announced that they had reserved the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on May 5th for "the biggest fight possible." Arum was quick to dismiss the news, calling it "a sick joke" and berating Mayweather for trying to steal Pacquiao's thunder ahead of his November 12th fight with Marquez and force a one-sided negotiation on his own terms.

Be that talk as it may, the onus remains on Pacquiao to do whatever he can to ensure that he finally gets his shot at Mayweather. In the end, nobody will care whether or not Pacquiao was in the right if he didn't subject himself to a strict testing regimen if Pac-Man and Money May never meet in the ring.

This latest development surrounding him and Marquez, then, has essentially provided Pacquiao with yet another stepping stone toward the fight that he and boxing fans everywhere want to see. 

So please, Manny, forget about the ego for just a moment, if you can. Forget about who's right and who's wrong and get yourself tested.

That way, when the results come back negative, you can go right back at Floyd and either expose him for the coward that he is or finally force him to lace up his gloves and fight.