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Floyd Mayweather JR. Vs Manny Pacquiao: DEAD ISSUE?

By Sean Farrell

Well it is looking like Manny Pacquiao may never fight Floyd as Mayweather may lose his next fight after Victor Ortiz if he continues his dormant periods after bouts…Why whatever do I mean? Well, WBA light-welterweight champion Amir Khan fights IBF champion Zab Judah in Las Vegas on July 23 in a unification bout. Should Khan be victorious, he would then be lined up against Erik Morales in December before stepping up to welterweight in 2012 with Kell Brook as a potential opponent.

Without any bumps in the road, Khan would then be put in the ring with unbeaten five-division world champion Mayweather. Golden Boy Promotions Chief Executive Richard Schaefer said: “We believe in Amir and believe he is ready. These are big plans, but Team Khan are on board. I’ve had conversations with Mayweather and his adviser Al Haymon and they are definitely open to a fight with Amir Khan, absolutely.”

Mayweather will fight Victor Ortiz in September. The mega-fight everyone wants to see against Manny Pacquiao could then follow, but it seems unlikely yet again because Manny Pacquiao refuses to be blood tested at logical dates.

Negotiations broke down over drug testing, with Mayweather insisting that Pacquiao undergo blood and urine tests up until fight day. The Filipino says that would weaken him and offered a 14-day cut-off period prior to any contest. Now I usually urinate every day and never feel fatigued and a sample of some blood isn’t physically draining either. They don’t need vials and vials of blood for a drug test so the blood lost would be almost unnoticed and replenished well before.

“Floyd has indicated he would like to do the Pacquiao fight,” said Schaefer. “He said to me he’d be open to fighting Pacquiao next if the testing issue can be sorted out. Amir would then fight in the autumn against Mayweather. I spent the last week with Mayweather and he said he wants to fight more than once per year. Whether he delivers on that promise, I don’t know, but I really believe he does want to fight several times a year. He’s mentioned to me the possibility of fighting in December again. Floyd has rediscovered his love for boxing and is ready to go. He’s hungry again.”Schaefer said the 34-year-old Mayweather, who retired from boxing twice in 2007, could even fight in the UK – although it is doubtful that a Khan meeting would take place outside the United States for obvious reasons.“Mayweather absolutely loves the British fans so I wouldn’t rule out him fighting here,” he said. “He feels the UK market is the biggest one for him outside the US. We’d have to see if we could do the Khan fight here from a timing and pay-per-view point of view, but it’s a big stretch.”

With Schaefer’s comments aside, I would like to say Mayweather has found no dedication to fight “several times a year” he has hit the point of his career where every fight is a super-ultra-mega-fight and wouldn’t dare risk tarnishing that image. If he has found new dedication for boxing, then it wouldn’t matter who was put in front of him he would get in there, but if it happens to be Khan, Mayweather may want to rethink that dedication.

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