According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, attempts to make a fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather did occur through intermediary Ross Greenburg of HBO despite denials from the Mayweather camp.

“Fights like Mayweather vs. Pacquiao are significant because of these fighters’ ability to connect with sports fans around the world. It’s unfortunate that it won’t happen in 2010,” Greenburg said in a statement. “I had been negotiating with a representative from each side since May 2nd, carefully trying to put the fight together. Hopefully, someday this fight will happen. Sports fans deserve it.”

Leonard Ellerbe, Mayweather’s other adviser and the public voice because Haymon refuses to speak to the press, said a few days after Arum outlined how the talks went that there had never been any negotiations.

He released a statement a few days after Arum’s teleconference that said, “Here are the facts. Al Haymon, (Golden Boy Promotions CEO) Richard Schaefer and myself speak to each other on a regular basis, and the truth is no negotiations have ever taken place, nor was there ever a deal agreed upon by Team Mayweather or Floyd Mayweather to fight Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 13. Either Ross Greenburg or Bob Arum is not telling the truth, but history tells us who is lying.”

Arum was pleased that Greenburg supported his version of events and cut him slack for taking a week to say so publicly.

“He works for a major public company and he has to clear this sort of thing with his bosses,” Arum told ESPN.com. “I understand that he had to get his statement cleared.

“The one you should all be taking to task is Schaefer for lying to the press,” Arum said. “You don’t do that. You can say ‘no comment’ or say nothing. Richard Schaefer owes an apology to the press, not to me, because I’ve written him off a long time ago. But now anything he says will be suspect. I don’t feel vindicated by Ross’ statement because that’s what happened. I knew what happened because I know I lived through the negotiations. I knew what I said about them was absolutely truthful so I didn’t give a damn who believed me. No skin off my back.

“Indeed, when I made the statement about the negotiations on the conference call, I wasn’t looking for controversy. I was kind to Mayweather. But Mayweather is the boss on his side and when he says, ‘jump,’ you’re supposed to ask, ‘how high.’ That’s why none of them have any credibility. Schaefer and Haymon and Ellerbe, they cling to the Mayweather boat because that’s the source of their riches. So the fact is that Ellerbe, who is not a bad guy, will do anything that Floyd asks, but Floyd is not quite a rational person. For Schaefer to be part of this drinking the Kool Aid is really pathetic. It’s really sad. Doesn’t he have any pride?”

“I think it’s unfortunate that Ross made that statement,” Schaefer told ESPN.com. “I fully stand behind the statement I made. I have not negotiated with Ross and I am not aware of any negotiations that have taken place.

“If Ross or Arum wants to go through a lie detector test, we can arrange that. I can only tell you I have regular contact with Al and Leonard and there were no negotiations going on. I don’t know exactly what Ross is referring to or what he is talking about. But I have been very consistent. There were none going on. Arum should just get a life and stop attacking me on a nonstop basis. This is really childish.”

Arum is now focused on finalizing the Pacquiao-Margarito fight, which if completed, will take place at a maximum weight of 150 pounds for the WBC’s vacant junior middleweight title. If Pacquiao wins, he would extend his record of winning world titles to an eighth weight class. Pacquiao has won titles from flyweight to welterweight.

“There’s a lot of pressure on me to get it done in Las Vegas from everyone in town,” Arum said. “The fight is important to the city. But I want it known that if it is not in Las Vegas, it’s not because of Bob Arum. I live there and I feel the town needs this. It’s not because of me if the fight is caused to go elsewhere.”

No news is good news. At least that has been the case for the last year and a half with regards to a possible Manny Pacquiao – Floyd Mayweather superfight.

Last Friday, Top Rank boss Bob Arum held a conference call to update boxing aficionados on the latest happenings in the sorry attempt to put together the one fight that all boxing fans are dying to see.

As the story goes, Arum had set a deadline for Mayweather’s camp to get in touch with Top Rank and HBO get the ball rolling. The deadline put in place by Arum was Friday at midnight, Pacific Daylight Time.

The international conference call played host to journalists from all around the globe. Some woke up early or stayed up late, while others abandoned their daily routines and responsibilities all to call in and hear what Top Rank’s grill master had to say.

Further, Top Rank, along with other various media outlets, allowed for a live-streaming of the call on their websites giving boxing fans worldwide access to the call.

Unfortunately for all who possessed even the tiniest bit of hope that Arum would talk about progress, he filled the airwaves and telephone lines with disappointment almost immediately. Arum confirmed that he had yet to hear anything from Money May’s camp. As the deadline came and went, Mayweather and his team stayed silent.

But just when you thought all hope was lost, Arum dangled yet another carrot in front of boxing fan’s faces.

“People have asked me as well as others at Top Rank, does that mean the Mayweather fight is dead?” Arum said. “Even though Mayweather has not responded by the deadline, the deal is dead when we reach a deal with an opponent for Manny’s fight in November.”

To quote Jim Carrey in the 1994 film “Dumb & Dumber”: “Soooooo, you’re telling me there’s a chance!?”

Friday at midnight — on the west coast — marked the time when Arum stopped exclusivity with the Mayweather camp and announced his intentions to explore other options for Pacquiao.

Arum went on to declare that he is turning his attention to making a possible fight with the “Tijuana Tornado”, Antonio Margarito, or a possible rematch with newly crowned WBA Junior Middleweight champion, Miguel Cotto.

Needless to say, neither is remotely as appealing as a Pacquiao-Mayweather bout.

There is little intriguing about a rematch with Cotto, who Pacquiao thoroughly dissected just some seven-plus months ago.

If he were to fight Margarito, who is currently not licensed in Nevada after the infamous hand-wrap scandal, Arum said the fight would most likely take place in Monterrey, Mexico.

For some reason, I don’t see that happening. The number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world, traveling into another fighter’s backyard — potentially a hostile environment — where Mexican fans would be rampant in their support of their native fighter.

After Arum acknowledged his intentions to inquire about matching Pacquiao with either Margarito or Cotto, he speculated about the possible reasons Mayweather had stayed silent as the deadline passed.

“One of the reasons could be the uncertainty regarding Roger Mayweather and for people that don’t know, Roger Mayweather is scheduled for court in Nevada regarding criminal charges,” Arum said. “Now I know how Manny would feel if he had to go into a fight like this without the services of Freddie Roach and presumably Floyd would feel the same way going into a fight like this without the services of his uncle Roger who has been training him for a number of years.”

Two days later, the Mayweather camp finally released a statement via Leonard Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions.

“Here are the facts. Al Haymon [Mayweather’s manager], Richard Schaefer [CEO of Golden Boy Promotions] and myself speak to each other on a regular basis, and the truth is no negotiations have ever taken place, nor was there ever a deal agreed upon by Team Mayweather or Floyd Mayweather to fight Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 13. Either Ross Greenburg [President of HBO Sports] or Bob Arum is not telling the truth, but history tells us who is lying.”

After Arum read the statement, he responded by sticking to his guns, saying Greenburg told him he was active in talks with Haymon, who was relaying messages back and forth to and from Mayweather.

The he-said, she-said all sounds like a childish game of ‘telephone’ — rather than grown men, heads of companies negotiating what could amount to the most prosperous fight in boxing history.

Whatever it is — lack of communication or lies, it all amounts to negativity.

Enough is enough.

No more chasing the elusive carrot.

Arum, Ellerbe, Greenburg, or anyone else involved in the attempt to make this fight a reality should stay silent until legitimate progress is made.

Top Rank has a great stable of fighters and its upcoming bouts should be the focus of Arum’s dialogue, not the constant letdowns that seem to come with the Pacquiao-Mayweather negotiations — whether it be the fault of Team Mayweather or not.

No more conference calls to report disappointing news.

No more public cheap shots at Mayweather or Pacquiao and their teams. There is enough blame to go around for everyone.

Holding an international conference call and inviting the entire boxing world to listen in to disappointing news fails to positively serve the sport of boxing.

Next time there is disheartening news to report, save your breath and let us all move on from what could have been.

And on that note, if the next news out of the Top Rank camp does in fact have to do with a Pacquiao-Margarito bout, or Pacquiao-Cotto rematch, you can stay silent about that too.

Kyle Kinder can be reached at Twitter.com/KyleKinder

Photo by Chris Farina / Top Rank

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said early Saturday that he had not heard from Floyd Mayweather, Jr., by a midnight deadline about whether he would fight Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 13, but Arum said the fight could still happen on the proposed date.

Arum said the deadline – midnight Friday in Las Vegas – was only the end of a period of exclusive negotiations for Mayweather-Pacquiao. Arum said he will now embark on talks with Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto.

“The fight we want to do is Mayweather,’’ Arum said. “We haven’t said anything different. We haven’t acted any different. …Absolutely, that’s the fight we want.’’

Mayweather-Pacquiao could still happen if Mayweather says he wants it during talks for an alternate bout, also on Nov. 13, with either Margarito or Cotto. Arum said he expects those talks to last 10 days.

“Floyd, for whatever reason and I’m sure he has a valid reason, did not want to commit,’’ Arum said after minutes after the midnight deadline passed without a decision from Mayweather

Arum said he was told by Ross Greenburg, president of HBO Sports, that Mayweather had agreed to terms, including a timetable for random drug testing. A deal for Pacquiao-Mayweather last March fell apart late last year when Pacquiao balked at Mayweather’s demand for Olympic-style blood-testing.
Arum said he heard from Greenburg a few days after Mayweather’s victory over Shane Mosley in early May. Arum said Greenburg then spoke to Mayweather advisor Al Haymon. It’s no secret that that Mayweather-Pacquiao could set pay-per-view records for HBO. It’s estimated that each fighter could earn between $40 million to $50 million each.

Arum continued to speculate that Mayweather might not want to fight this year because his uncle and trainer, Roger Mayweather, is facing a trial on an assault charge. If Mayweather decides not to fight in November, Arum has said he hopes the bout will happen in May.

Margarito has yet to regain a license in the United States since his California license was revoked for altered hand wraps discovered before a loss to Mosley in January, 2009 at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The Nevada State Athletic Commission tabled a Margarito application last week. Arum said he will again try to get Margarito licensed in Nevada. If successful and there is still no word from Mayweather, Margarito-Pacquiao could happen in Las Vegas. If unsuccessful, the fight could happen in Monterrey, Mexico.

If Cotto gets the nod and there still is no decision from Mayweather, possible sites are Las Vegas, Cowboys Stadium in Dallas and Dubai.

There is Greenwich Mean Time and Daylight Savings and maybe even “Money” Time, but there is nothing standard about the digital countdown Top Rank added to its website in an attempt to get a decision, yea or nay, from Floyd Mayweather, Jr., about a proposed fight with Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 13.

Mayweather has his own clock.

From minute-to-minute, it is hard to know what that clock says. But it is safe to assume that it doesn’t include any alarms, or even an acknowledgement, for deadlines imposed by anyone other than Mayweather himself.

The guess is that Bob Arum won’t have to check his web site when the final split-second expires at midnight Friday in Las Vegas, where there aren’t many clocks, No yea. No nay. No decision either.

Any answer at all would be a concession from Mayweather that Arum has the upper hand in reported negotiations. If there is anything to be learned from failed talks late last year, it is that Mayweather will not allow anybody to dictate terms or time, especially Arum. They are locked into a deadly rivalry that starts –and thus far ends — with one-upmanship at the bargaining table.

During the last few days, questions have been raised about whether there is an agreement at all. Despite a reported gag order, Arum said there is. Mayweather and his representatives, including Golden Boy Promotions, have said almost nothing, although Golden Boy President Oscar De La Hoya was quoted in Spanish-speaking media a few weeks ago that a deal was close.

De La Hoya told Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer that he had been misquoted, but nobody has denied that there have been talks. It is safe to say that the talk included more than juts gardening tips. Still, there has been only speculation about all those devils in the details. The purse? Pick a percentage: Fifty-fifty or 55 percent for Mayweather and 45 for Pacquiao. Random blood-testing? Pick a timetable: Two weeks before the welterweight bout or the night before opening bell.

Other than comments from Arum and to a lesser extent De La Hoya, there has been no real way to determine whether terms are in place for a deal that would lead to the biggest fight in years. Maybe you can blame the gag order, although has anybody ever been able to silence Mayweather, uncle-trainer Roger Mayweather and dad Floyd, Sr.? They talk as often as they exhale. Yet, they’ve said nothing.

Then, there is a defamation lawsuit, alleging that Mayweather, his uncle, father, Mayweather Promotions, De La Hoya and Schaefer slandered Pacquiao. The suit charges that Pacquiao, who balked at Mayweather’s demands for random blood-testing late last year, was smeared by comments that made him look like he was guilty of using performance-enhancing drugs despite his clean record in tests conducted by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

There has been no news that the lawsuit has been dropped. As long as the lawsuit is still there, it’s hard to imagine that negotiations can move forward. Maybe, a yes from Mayweather would take the lawsuit and legal expenses off the table. That would be a surprise. Santa Claus in July would be too. But I suspect that Santa is not anybody’s clock.

Instead, Arum is talking and acting as if he doesn’t expect an answer, which presumably will be interpreted as a no. For a couple of weeks, he has said that Mayweather might not want to fight again in 2010 in part because Roger Mayweather faces a trial in August on an assault charge..

Then, Arum traveled to Puerto Rico where he spoke to Miguel Cotto about a rematch with Pacquiao in the wake of Nevada’s tabling last week of Margarito’s attempt to regain a U.S. license since his revocation in California a year-and-a-half ago for altered hand wraps.

A day in May has been designated as the next possibility for Mayweather-Pacquiao. But the next couple of weeks loom as sudden death if Mayweather starts talking not long after he lets the deadline pass without a word. There’s no telling what Mayweather might say. But accusations are possible, even likely, in another chapter of a feud without end or an opening bell against Pacquiao.

NOTES, QUOTES
· Arum says he has an offer for Pacquiao to fight Margarito in Monterrey, Mexico, where Margarito faces no licensing problems. But if Pacquiao-Mayweather is a real possibility in May, a fight for Pacquiao, Arum’s major star, against a popular Mexican in Mexico sounds like a crazy gamble. Talk about Pacquiao in Monterrey is a good way to negotiate, but a bad move. A Pacquiao rematch with Cotto in Dallas or Las Vegas makes a lot more sense.

· Timothy Bradley, who has assumed the title of the fighter most avoided by the game’s biggest stars, tries to get in line for a shot at either Pacquiao or Mayweather Saturday night in his 147-pound debut against Carlos Abregu in Rancho Mirage, Calif., on HBO.

· And Detail magazine’s fascinating Q-and-A with Mike Tyson includes a quote that raises one question: Where were the regulators? In talking about his disqualification on the infamous night in 1997 when he bit off a piece of Evander Holyfield ear at Las Vegas MGM Grand, Tyson says: “I wasn’t thinking. I wasn’t training for that fight. I was on (expletive) drugs, thinking I was a god.” Forget about random or blood. How about a test of any kind?

A reported agreement on terms for Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. should be reason for optimism. Maybe, the biggest fight in years will finally happen. But skepticism is the only reasonable reaction. We’ve been here before, haven’t we? We’re back at the scene of an old accident, waiting on Mayweather all over again. I’d prefer to wait on a root canal.

Mayweather is as unpredictable as he is elusive. Annoying, too, but give him this: He says – ad nauseam –that he is the face of boxing, that everything happens because of him. Few can argue with him on that one right now. In resurrected talks of negotiations that blew apart more than six months ago, Mayweather has the last say, yea or nay.

“It’s up to him,’’ Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum told Yahoo Wednesday.

Safe to say, Arum won’t leave it up to Mayweather for long. He’ll give it a couple of weeks. The Top Rank promoter says he will wait until mid-July for an answer from Mayweather. No reply presumably means Arum will turn to Plan B or C, Antonio Margarito or Miguel Cotto for a Pacquiao bout scheduled for Nov. 13.

But nobody knows how — or even if — Mayweather will respond. Mayweather’s representatives, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer and Leonard Ellerbe, have honored an initial agreement not to comment. If Mayweather-Pacquiao is going to happen in November, however, it’s time to take off the gag.

Mayweather must enjoy the power of being granted the last word. But it is double-edged with potential enough to destroy Mayweather’s attempts to spin himself into a less profane, more media-friendly personality before and after his brilliant victory over Shane Mosley in May.

In renewed talks however, it looks as if there is a reversal of roles. There was no deal six months ago because of a sudden, deal-breaking demand from Mayweather for random, Olympic-style drug-testing. Pacquiao said no, a refusal that then aroused speculation about whether he was in fact a user of banned substances despite a clean record of tests sanctioned by regulatory agencies, including the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

According to Arum, the drug issue has been resolved. Arum didn’t provide any specifics, but the assumption is that Pacquiao has agreed to some sort of random blood-testing under protocol set down by the Nevada commission, which appeared to consider possible methods and timetables during discussions last month with sports-medicine experts, physicians and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

If Pacquiao has agreed to drug testing, Mayweather has lost the high ground he had occupied amid repeated boasts that he was only try to clean up boxing. Drug testing is no longer the issue. But that doesn’t mean that Mayweather won’t find another one.

If he does, Mayweather will have to face renewed accusations that he just doesn’t want to fight Pacquiao.

Arum is right:

It is up to Mayweather.

Is it ever.

From this corner, it looks as if Mayweather’s only wiggle room is a delay until next year. In interviews with Yahoo and Filipino media, Arum seemed to prepare himself for Pacquiao-Mayweather at a later date.

He has to look only at Mayweather’’s recent record. The unbeaten welterweight has fought only four times over the last four years – twice in 2007 with victories over Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton, not once in 2008, once in 2009 with a lopsided decision over Juan Manuel Marquez and once this year against Mosley.

Even if Mayweather’s career is down to only one a fight year, it appears as if there is only one fight for him. It looks as if he can’t say no to Pacquiao. Then again, Mayweather has already shown that he can say just about everything and sometimes nothing at all. It’s impossible to know what he will do. The only thing anybody knows for certain is that he will make you wait.

The silence isn’t exactly deafening. But it is encouraging. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer isn’t saying anything at all. Bob Arum is commenting only on location- location- location, which was one piece of real estate agreeable to all before negotiations for Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. got messy enough to demand that everybody go straight to drug testing.

It even looks as if Mayweather has sidestepped questions about Pacquiao by saying he has retired all over again. Yeah, right. Believe that one and you’ll believe British Petroleum’s early assertions that spewing oil from the Gulf of Mexico’s sea floor was as easy to fix as a leaky toilet.

After a noisy and abrupt end to talks late last year, the absence of chest-thumping, defiant headlines is as good a place to resume as any. The mystery is whether there been any substantive talk at all about a proposed fight on Nov. 13 in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand or Thomas & Mack Center.

The guess here: Not much.

But the beginning, a, potential foundation, of a deal looks to be in the works where it should have been all along:

The Nevada State Athletic Commission.

On Wednesday, the Commission heard from U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart, former chief U.S. Olympic Committee medical officer Dr. Robert Voy, commission physician Dr. David Watson and others about random blood testing, the deal breaking issue in December.

Then, the Commission got about as much respect as a tar ball when Mayweather suddenly demanded Olympic-style testing and Pacquiao balked. Despite the Nevada’s agency’s regulatory duties, it didn’t appear to have much of a role months later in the USADA-supervised blood-testing before Mayweather’s victory over Shane Mosley on May 1. Mayweather and Mosley were represented by the same entity, Golden Boy, instead of feuding promotional concerns.

There was progress in Mosley-Mayweather, perhaps, because the random testing went on with few complaints from either fighter. But it will never work in negotiations between Top Rank-promoted Pacquiao and representatives for Mayweather without a supervisory agency that so far only conducts urine testing.

It will be very hard – make that impossible — to put together a deal without a buffer between USADA and Mayweather, whose demand initiated talk ,if not momentum, for Olympic style testing in boxing. If Mayweather can take himself – retire his mouth – from the process long enough for he Nevada Commission to make some kind of accommodation with USADA, then there’s chance.

Some of what was said Wednesday was intriguing. In boxing circles, random blood testing for a variety of drugs is often described in terms that make it sound unbeatable. Voy pointed out that it is not.

Testing for human growth hormone (HGH), he said, is unreliable and impractical. For anybody who has spent times at the Olympics, those are two words often used at pool side during the swimming or at the track between heats.

Instead of guarantees, there are only suspicions.

But a framework for blood-testing sanctioned by the Nevada Commission could create a springboard for negotiations between Arum and Schaefer, Pacquiao and Mayweather. The meeting Wednesday was only a beginning. Between Arum and Schaefer, Pacquiao and Mayweather, there is no room for compromise over the method or the timetable or even the concept. We already know that.

However, Pacquiao has said he would be willing to undergo a blood test within two weeks of opening bell, or within the reported window when HGH can still be detected.

Pacquiao has shown signs that he willing to compromise. But he also has shown that he will just say no to demands from Mayweather or Schaefer or Mayweather advisor Leonard Ellerbe.

For now, he must like what he is hearing.

Or not hearing.

Photo by Chris Farina/Top Rank

Campaign promises in politics are like noses in boxing. They are there to be broken. But Filipino Congressman-elect Manny Pacquiao has one promise he can’t break:

He has to fight Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

If the Mayweather promise wasn’t exactly stated in Pacquiao’s successful run for the seat representing the Sarangani province, it was there, everywhere. Few would have paid as much attention otherwise. Just ask Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum, who a few days ago returned from the Philippines so upbeat that it was as if his flight through time zones included a stop at The Thrilla In Manila.

“It’s amazing how many people came up to me as I was leaving the Philippines and asked me: When is the Mayweather fight going to happen?’’ Arum said Wednesday in a conference call with a few media members. “That’s the fight people want to see. That’s the fight that I’m going to do my darndest to make happen.

’’ This corner, like several others, has been skeptical about chances that Arum or anybody else has at putting together a rare fight that can captivate worldwide attention. Yet, that rare potential is still there, despite the buzz-kill that came with the noisy, then dreary negotiations that fell apart just five months ago. It’s hard to pinpoint what exactly re-invigorated interest. Maybe, the interest was always there anyway.

Whatever it was, Arum re-discovered in his trip to the Philippines that the appetite for Mayweather-Pacquiao is as keen as ever. If there were any misgivings still with him in the wake of the feud, that baggage wasn’t with him upon his return. In part, I suspect, that’s because it’s so easy to get caught up in the phenomenon that is Pacquiao, whose ability to surprise is seemingly endless.

The word after his one-sided decision over Joshua Clottey on March 13 in Dallas was that he couldn’t win in a return to the political ring against a wealthy, well-entrenched rival. Even Filipino writers who chronicle his every move, made it sound as if Pacquiao’s chances at defeating Roy Chiongbian were about as good as Clottey winning a rematch.

Like coming back from a loss to Erik Morales in their first fight, however, Pacquiao learned from defeat, adjusted and added a right to the left for an uninterrupted run of 12 successive victories since 2005. There are no lasting losses for Pacquiao. There are only lessons. If the 31-year-old Filipino can adjust, so can the 78-year-old Arum.

This time, Arum promises not to negotiate in the media, which late last year was like a flame to a fuse. It blew up egos that are never far from exploding.

“Once you start negotiating through the media, it becomes ego driven,’’ said Arum, who is talking about Nov. 13 or Nov. 6 at either Las Vegas’ MGM Grand or Cowboys Stadium in the Dallas metroplex. “People can’t wait to give a statement to the press. The flames just shoot up and there is no real opportunity for rational behavior to take over. Everyone is so interested is setting forth his position to the media that it becomes the contest. That involves me as well as everybody else.’’

Arum’s acknowledgement of his role in the blowup represents a promising sign. But it’s reasonable to remain skeptical about whether he can rein in his quick temper, which has been great for the media but often a deal breaker in negotiations, especially involving a fighter, Mayweather, he doesn’t like.

For Arum , a good starting point – a symbol of good will – would be to drop a lawsuit filed against Mayweather, Golden Boy President Oscar De La Hoya and others. It charges that Pacquiao, who has never failed a sanctioned drug test, was defamed in what was said and written in the debate over Mayweather’s demands for random testing. If the public didn’t suspect Pacquiao as a user of performance-enhancers before, it does now. That, at least, is the allegation.

Arum said Wednesday that “the lawsuit is still being actively pursued.” However, he also said: “All these issues are on the table and they will be negotiated and nothing cannot be discussed.

’’ OK, can we talk about taking that lawsuit off the table?

It’s a beginning, a tentative step in trying to find out whether Mayweather is really interested. He says is. Then again, he says a lot of things. It’s also reasonable to be wary of Mayweather, a man of many motives, moods and roles. A kinder, gentler and better Mayweather showed up in the pre-fight build-up to his brilliant victory on May 1 over Shane Mosley.

At news conferences during the two weeks before opening bell, he dropped the profanity. It was hard to tell whether he was playing his own brand of politics in Las Vegas while Pacquiao was running a political campaign on the other side of the world. But a likable Mayweather, before, during and after the fight, emerged. That, too, looms as a promising sign for a deal.

Still, the imminent renewal of talks could all be for naught if the impasse over random, Olympic-style drug testing remains unresolved. It’s hard to see how Mayweather, who underwent eight tests before his decision over Mosley, can compromise on that one. He has said he won’t. If he does, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which supervised the testing for Mayweather-Mosley, will surely criticize him.

Meanwhile, there are reports that Pacquiao, who has said blood-testing weakens him, might be willing to soften his stand of no testing within a couple of weeks of opening ball.

Without some sign of compromise from either or both camps, forget it. There’s no reason to even begin talking.

If the drug-testing issue is resolved, another one looms over the money. Before a proposed March 13 fight, they had agreed to a 50-50 split. But the equation has changed. Mayweather ‘s pay-per-view numbers are harder to debate now than they were before he beat Mosley. His victory over Mosley generated 1.4 million customers, or twice that of the 700,000 who bought the HBO telecast for Pacquiao’s victory over Clottey. Depending on the projection, Pacquiao and Mayweather could set the pay-per-view record, meaning their purses could be a split of $100 million.

If the agreement isn’t 50-50, the devil is in the percentages. If Mayweather demands 55 percent, the additional five percent means $55 million for him and $45 million for Pacquiao, who might need some money after spending a reported $6.5 million on his Congressional campaign. The difference amounts to 10 million reasons to fear that the fight won’t happen. For now, however, I’ll bet on the optimism.

It’s the only way to vote.

To say that Olympic-style drug testing is the right thing to do is the equivalent of a beauty-pageant contestant saying she believes in world peace. Between believing in it and doing it, however, there are arguments about procedure, ego and potential rancor, otherwise known as devils in the details. If it was so obvious and so righteous, we already would have seen Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

We haven’t, of course.

I couldn’t help but wonder if we ever will after listening to Mayweather advisor Leonard Ellerbe, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, Shane Mosley attorney Judd Burstein and Travis Tygart of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) talk Thursday in a conference call about an agreement for blood-testing before the Mayweather-Mosley fight on May 1 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand.

USADA officials met with both fighters and their camps last weekend. According to a Golden Boy release, the random testing can begin on Monday.

“If you’re clean, you have no reason not to be part of this program,’’ Tygart said. “In fact, you demand it.’’

Fact is, however, demand for the procedure, from sport to sport, is not exactly universal. Perhaps it was just coincidence, but as Tygart talked, World Anti-Doping Agency President John Fahey took some pointed shots Thursday at Major League Baseball and the Players Association. In a story from Montreal, Fahey urged baseball to do what Mayweather and Mosley will, Mark McGuire didn’t and Pacquiao wouldn’t.

In boxing, the blood-testing demand has only been heard from Mayweather, whose insistence killed the deal for a March 13 bout with Pacquiao, the Filipino icon who just said no to the comprehensive process and instead battered Joshua Clottey around like a blocking dummy last Saturday at Cowboys Stadium.

There’s a part of me that wants to admire Mayweather. It’s the same part that wants to agree with Ellerbe when he says that Mayweather is exercising some overdue leadership in a forever fractured business.

“Obviously with Floyd being the face of boxing, he wanted to clean up the sport,’’ Ellerbe said

I’m not sure what kind of face Tygart’s lieutenants will see when they show up, unannounced with test tubes and needles in hand, at the Big Boy Mansion in Las Vegas for a random test. The face of boxing might look at them as though they were Filipino journalists and throw them out onto the Strip. There’s another part of me that is wary of Mayweather, whose many faces can make him as hard to read as he is to hit.

To wit: Weight-gate. Before he humiliated Juan Manuel Marquez in a one-sided September decision, he willingly paid him $600,000 — $300,000 per pound – for being two over the catch-weight in their contract.

Then, he refused to step on Home Box Office’s unofficial scale the next night before opening bell. When asked why, he said it was nobody’s business.

Perhaps, it is an apples-to-oranges comparison, but the weight flap provides a glimpse at Mayweather’s unpredictable nature. He has taken the high-ground with the blood-testing demand. But the demand is nothing more than a beauty contestant’s prayer for world peace if he isn’t compliant with a process that Olympic athletes have called inconvenient, if not intrusive.

USADA enforcement power is another issue altogether. If an Olympic athlete tests positive for a banned performance-enhancer, the penalty can be a suspension for as long as two years. That punishment is part of an agreement with the International Olympic Committee. In boxing, however, the sport still is regulated by state commissions, which for Mosley-Mayweather means Nevada.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission has the power to license fighters. It also has the final say-so in whether to revoke or suspend a license. USADA can poke, prod, draw and recommend. But it can’t suspend. Mayweather’s blood-testing demand looms as another argument for a federal commission, which Arizona Senator John McCain has tried to put into place for years.

According to news reports this week, the New York State Athletic Commission will consider Olympic-style testing after a study by its medical board. Ellerbe said he hopes the New York study will create momentum that will result in more vigilant testing in other states.

Mosley-Mayweather, Tygart says, “shows it is affordable at the right level. I always say it (a sport) can’t afford not to do it.’’

With legislative budgets in crisis during a lousy economy, however, chances of uniform blood testing from state-to-state appear slim.

Maybe, the fighters themselves can change that, although the nature of the beast is conflict, which precludes cooperation and fosters suspicion that whatever is done or said — including Mayweather’s blood-testing demand in the abortive Pacquiao talks — is driven by a personal agenda.

Nevertheless, Mosley, more than Mayweather, could be the real face of that movement. By now, it’s no secret that Mosley was tied to the BALCO scandal. He said he inadvertently took performance enhancers before a victory is 2003 over Oscar De La Hoya. He has a defamation suit against BALCO founder Victor Conte, who says he knowingly took performance-enhancers. Burstein says Mosley was misled.

“Shane would not be doing this is if there were any doubt in his mind that he is a clean athlete,’’ Burstein said.

Let’s just say that Mayweather gets Mosley and then other fighters to join him in a chorus for blood-testing. Maybe, then it works. Mosley has said he would fight Pacquiao without the testing he will undergo before and after the Mayweather bout. But let’s say that Mosley changes his mind. Let’s say he, like Mayweather, demands that blood-testing would have to continue against Pacquiao.

Something tells me we’ve already said too much for Pacquiao and his promoter, Bob Arum. In Dallas, Arum already has plans for Pacquiao to fight Edwin Valero, or Marquez, or even Antonio Margarito, who can re-apply for a license revoked in California more than a year ago for tampered hand-wraps.

In a prepared release Thursday, Mayweather and Mosley asked other fighters to follow them

But it sounded as if Arum had something else to say, something like:
See ya.’

NOTES, QUOTES
· In talking to the media a week ago in Dallas for the first time since his gloves were found to be loaded with a plaster-like substance before a loss to Mosley in January, 2009, Margarito took an initial step toward convincing the public that he deserves a second chance in the United States. But he needs to say more. Again, Margarito said that he didn’t know disgraced trainer Javier Capetillo had tampered with the wraps. Okay, but he also needs to say “Sorry, I should have known.’’
· After a long absence, boxing might return to Phoenix under the Showdown Promotions banner, which also represents Margarito. Showdown has reserved two dates, July 17 and July 31, at Wild Horse Pass Casino in the Phoenix suburbs.
· The more Top Rank watches 17-year-old Jose Benavidez Jr., a junior-welterweight from Phoenix, the more it sees an emerging star. Benavidez is 3-0, including a third-round stoppage of Bobby Hill on March 12 in Dallas on the eve of Pacquiao’s decision over a passive Clottey. Although hard to judge, Benavidez’ performance was solid. More significant, perhaps, there were young fans surrounding him after the bout. They stood in line to get his autograph. He has charisma, which is almost as fundamental to stardom as a jab.
· And Arum, on whether Pacquiao would have enough time to continue his boxing career if he wins a seat in the Filipino Congress: “If Filipino Congressmen are the same as U.S. Congressmen, they sit around and do nothing most of the year. So why wouldn’t he be able to fight?’’

Photo by Chris Farina /Top Rank

There’s been plenty of speculation about whom Floyd Mayweather Jr. could or should fight in the wake of abortive talks for a showdown with Manny Pacquiao, yet no talk about whether Mayweather will continue to demand Olympic-style blood-testing.

Let’s just say that the demand is a mandatory defense.

Without it, Pacquiao, Bob Arum, Freddie Roach and a gallery full of critics have a compelling reason to say that blood-testing was a just a ruse that allowed Mayweather to sidestep a threat to his unbeaten record from the Filipino, who now faces a dangerous date against Joshua Clottey on March 13 in Dallas. With it, Mayweather can claim a measure of consistency that says the demand was not just a convenient feint.

It’s fair to argue that Mayweather and Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer asked for comprehensive blood-testing at the wrong time and in the wrong venue. First, they should have introduced the idea to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, the regulatory agency for a fight that had been planned for March 13 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand.

Pacquiao, Arum and Roach still might have said no-no-no, but they would have had to scream their complaints to a body that is supposed to regulate and not negotiate.

At the very least, the demand was confrontational in talks ruled, first and foremost, by egos easily insulted, usually suspicious and always seeking an edge. If Mayweather doesn’t stand by the demand in possible negotiations for a fight with Timothy Bradley or Paulie Malignaggi or Paul Williams, then it looks as if he were singling out Pacquiao despite the Filipino’s clean record of tests in Nevada, California and Texas.

Drug tests for a boxing license in Nevada or any other state are as outdated as a pay-phone. Then again, so are other tests, which always seems to be a split-second late or a home run short of the latest in performance-enhancing technology.

Mark McGwire finally admitted the obvious a few days ago when he said he used steroids. Gee, ya think. The biggest headline in that news story should have been McGwire’s stated belief that he thinks the performance-enhancers didn’t help him hit those record-setting 70 homers in 1998. Maybe, he thinks that only the ball was juiced. Dick Pound, a former president of the World Anti- Doping Agency, ripped major-league baseball. Arum had suggested that baseball oversee testing for Pacquiao-Mayweather instead of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

“What has emerged in the whole baseball mess is that drug use is widespread and that even the best players are involved – and still MLB is whistling past the graveyard,’’ Pound said in an e-mail quoted by the Associated Press. “If you notice, McGwire talks about steroids and HGH (and many other doping substances). These MLB positions are not indicators of a real attempt to solve the drug use problem in baseball.’’

Pound didn’t mention boxing. Then again, he also didn’t mention Marion Jones, who went to jail for lying under oath about performance-enhancers, yet never tested positive for one after the sprinter won five medals at the Sydney Olympics.

There is no reliable test. But there is consistency and that’s the only way for Mayweather to defend himself, no matter who he fights. If he and Bradley or Malignaggi or Williams or whoever take the blood-tests, it will be that much harder for Pacquiao to just say no. Without that consistency, Mayweather will be left with only a hidden agenda.

A month for champs

Muhammad Ali turns 68 Sunday. Ali plans to celebrate in his hometown, Louisville, before returning next week to his residence in Phoenix.

Speaking of birthdays, there are many to celebrate in January. Ali’s old bitter rival, Joe Frazier, turned 66 on Tuesday, Jan. 12. Another Ali rival, George Foreman, turned 61 last Sunday, Jan. 10. Bernard Hopkins is 45 today, Friday, Jan. 15.

Notes, quotes, anecdotes

· A potential prospect, Jose Benavidez, a 17-year-old junior-welterweight from Phoenix, gets his first pro tests Saturday night in Las Vegas against Steve Cox (1-0) of Independence, Mo., on a Top Rank card featuring junior-middleweight Vanes Martiroysan versus Kassim Ouma at the Hard Rock. Benavidez, a national Golden Gloves champion, got some YouTube attention for the way he handled himself against Amir Kahn in sparring a couple of months ago at Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles.

· News item: James Toney, a former quarterback, is trying to talk his way into a UFC bout and former NFL running back, Herschel Walker has been training for mixed-martial arts. Reaction: A Toney-Walker date in a cage can’t be too far away.

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, the saga that is or was a proposed bout between pound for pound kings, Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather took even a stranger turn on Sunday night as just hours after it was announced that Pacquiao would fight Joshua Clottey on that date on Pay- Per-view, Golden Boy Promotions announced that Mayweather would be fighting on March 13th on a seperate Pay Per View in Las Vegas

“It’s a date Golden Boy has had for a long time and nothing has changed,” Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer said. “We have been talking to Team Mayweather to see who the opponent will be. I hope to have something to announce in the next few days.”

According to sources, Mayweather’s list of potential opponents includes former junior welterweight titlist Paulie Malignaggi and Golden Boy-promoted former lightweight titlist Nate Campbell, both smaller men than Mayweather, as well as former welterweight titlist Kermit Cintron, who is a similar kind of opponent as Clottey is for Pacquiao. There is also a more remote possibility of Mayweather facing junior welterweight titlist Timothy Bradley Jr., who has ties to Showtime, which may not want to let him walk away for a possible fight on rival HBO PPV.

One opponent Mayweather will not be facing is Matthew Hatton, the brother of former junior welterweight champ Ricky Hatton, whom Mayweather knocked out in a 2007 welterweight title fight. Reports in Matthew Hatton’s native England indicate that he is under consideration.

However, Schaefer that is not the case.

“There is absolutely no truth to the rumors about Matthew Hatton. I can’t tell you for sure who Floyd will fight, but I can tell you for sure it won’t be Matthew Hatton,” Schaefer said.

“It is unusual, but what can I do,” Schaefer said. “It wasn’t Floyd who walked away from the Pacquiao fight. There is nothing I can really say about it. I’ve had the date [March 13] for a long time. Initially it was for the Bernard Hopkins-Roy Jones fight [which won’t come off because Jones was knocked out in a Dec. 2 interim bout]. You know what? It is what it is. I’m not getting excited about it anymore. I am sitting outside having a cigar and [expletive] it. It is what it is.

“It’s not good. Its not good for Pacquiao to go on that date, which we had for a long time. We had that date, end of story. So it’s not good. How can it be good? It’s not good for boxing. It’s not good for boxing that Pacquiao and Mayweather are not fighting each other. I worked really hard to make that happen and it’s not. And I am not belittling Pacquiao’s fight with Clottey. It’s OK. Hey, we have a piece of [the promotional contract of] Pacquiao. But is it ideal? No it’s not. Is it the end of boxing? Is the world collapsing? No it is not. We all have to look to March 14. March 13 will pass and on March 14 boxing will still be there and there will be exciting fights, and nothing will change that.”

“Nobody wants competing fights. HBO doesn’t want it,” he said. “Nobody in their clear mind can be happy about Mayweather fighting somebody else or Pacquiao fighting somebody else. But we all have to live with it and accept. I’m a boxing fan too and I am pissed off about what happened. Anyone who says anything different is lying. I wish there had been something I could do about it, so I am very frustrated and disappointed, but Floyd Mayweather will still fight

Relief might be best thing about the apparent end Wednesday of the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather negotiations. Maybe, we won’t have to hear about them, any of them, for at least a while.

If interest is measured by hits that rank daily stories on internet sites, readership of blow-by-blow accounts of the talks was crashing faster than Arizona real estate anyway. It looked as if a potential pay-per-view audience or two full of casual fans got sick of the dizzy on-again, off-again silliness and had moved on sometime before the legal suits and mediators arrived like ambulances too late to an accident. No telling when those fans will be back, if ever.

Meanwhile, the battered game also has to move on and sustain itself until another opportunity can be squandered. Despite the doom-and-gloom, it can. It always has. Resiliency was really the story of 2009. Alexis Arguello, Vernon Forrest and Arturo Gatti died. Oscar De La Hoya retired amid predictions that the business was finally finished. Still, there was a resurrection in November with talk of the good old days before and after Pacquiao’s victory over Miguel Cotto

Now, that boxing begins a New Year in the same old place – which is to say nowhere at all, it is also back with a chance to do what it always does. It survives. That well-practiced habit could resume with anyone. From here to Kelly Pavlik, Brian Viloria looks as if he is a good beginning. Viloria (26-2, 15 KOs) is in the right place, right time, against Colombian Carlos Tamara (20-4, 14 KOs) in Manila Saturday (January 23rd), Friday (January 22nd) in the United States. He also has been on a path that personifies the dependable resiliency in a craft so fragile, yet so durable.

Not so long ago, Viloria also thought he was done.

“It took a lot of soul-searching,’’ said Viloria, who will defend the International Boxing Federation’s junior-flyweight title on Solar Entertainment, a Filipino-based company, in a pay-per-view card scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Friday in Los Angeles (10 p.m. in New York).

Viloria’s soul began to become conflicted after he put Ruben Contreras in critical condition with a head injury in 2005 at Los Angeles’ Staples Center.

“I don’t want to say that it was just one event,’’ said Viloria, who visited Contreras at the hospital and saw him later at ringside for one of his subsequent bouts. “There were a lot of things happening within my life.’’

So many that Viloria didn’t recognize himself, or at least the fighter who seemed to be on the express elevator to ring riches and renown not long after the 2000 Games in Sydney. But boxing isn’t supposed to be easy. Real conflict, in a ring and within the soul, never is. Know that, and you’ll understand that unbeaten might be just another way of saying untested. Viloria is neither. He has been beaten, first by Omar Romero in 2006 and then by Edgar Sosa in 2007, and then tested by his own doubts.

“To be great, I think you just have to battle with yourself a lot more,’’ said Viloria, a Filipino-American who grew up near Pearl Harbor on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. “I think it is more of an issue with yourself than it is an opponent. With those fights, I found myself as more of an enemy, an obstacle to conquer, than my opponent.

“I know my talents, my abilities. It was me, battling me.’’

It is battle that never quite ends. But Viloria understands it now more than ever, first because of some long talks with friends and family in Hawaii and in Los Angeles with manager Gary Gittelsohn.

“To be frank, I was pushing him to make a decision to go in a different direction,’’ said Gittelsohn, who calls Viloria “a Renaissance Man,’’ for his many interests, which includes everything from broadcasting to music. “I knew he had God-given skills as a fighter. But we know this business and we know that economic opportunities for a 108-pound fighter, even a world champ, are limited. So, if you don’t bank it early and fast and efficiently, I didn’t want this kid just knocking around. There are too many of those stories in this sport.’’

The heart-to-heart, Gittelsohn said, came at a time when Viloria had been dismissed, “written off..” During a nine-month hiatus after the Sosa loss, however, Viloria said he just felt incomplete.

“I felt like I needed some closure, some things that I still had to do as a fighter,’’ he said.

But that meant a tough price. Gittelsohn told Viloria that he had to start over. In January of 2008, he did in a scheduled eight-rounder in an outdoor ring on grounds in Alameda, Calif., that usually were occupied by shoppers at a swap meet. The booths were closed. Had they been open, Viloria could have bought an umbrella, if not a boat. He could have used one, maybe both. It rained enough to fill a spit bucket.

“He had to be carried to the ring so he wouldn’t get his shoes soaked,’’ Gittelsohn said. “It was surreal.’’

By then, however, Viloria was ready for any kind of storm.

“Gary warned me that I had to take a step back, that it wasn’t going to be easy,’’ said Viloria, who won a decision over Jose Garcia Bernal. “He told me I had to get out of the comfort zone. Sure enough, I walked out into the pouring rain. It was 45, 50 degrees in January. But I just said: ‘OK, if this is what I have to do. I’ll do it.’

“I just threw all of my accomplishments and ego out of the window and went back to Square One.’’

The rain fell like a baptism, washing away the doubts and leaving only the commitment that Viloria always knew was there. Since then, he has won seven straight fights, including perhaps his finest victory, a knockout of Ulises Solis. The 11th-round stoppage last April resurrected the possibility that maybe Viloria could be the next Michael Carbajal, the former junior-flyweight champion from Phoenix and a Hall of Famer who is the biggest American name in the history of boxing’s little guys.

“Carbajal is the first big name in my weight class,’’ said Viloria, who worked as a ringside analyst for Solar during Pacquiao’s victory over Cotto. “When I think of Michael, I think of really big shoes to fill.’’

Carbajal emerged because he had rival, a business partner, in Chiquita Gonzalez. Gonzalez, a popular junior-flyweight from Mexico City fighter, won two narrow decisions in rematches of a trilogy that started in 1993 with a dramatic knockout delivered by Carbajal, who was the first in the lightest weight classes to collect a $1 million purse.

Viloria still has to win in Manila next weekend. If he does, Gittelsohn foresees a similar rivalry with Puerto Rican Ivan Calderon. There already were preliminary discussions last June after Calderon suffered a cut in head butt that led to a draw with Rodel Mayol on the undercard of Cotto’s victory over Joshua Clottey in New York.

With damage left in the wake of the failed Pacquiao-Mayweather negotiations, the Carbajal parallel is intriguing on another level. Carbajal has often been called a pioneer, because he created opportunities for fighters in forgotten weight classes. More significant, he awakened promoters to an untapped market. Carbajal’s emergence, unlikely as it was timely, coincided with ex-heavyweight champ Mike Tyson’s 3-year prison sentence on a 1992 rape conviction.

Boxing then, like now, was reeling. But it survived and eventually recreated itself with fans and fighters once ignored. That story is more than just familiar. It might be repeating itself in Viloria’s resiliency.

So Floyd Mayweather is going to fight Manny Pacquiao? Awesome. Finally, there is a fight that the sports world and beyond could really get into.

As a displaced boxing fan, I was extremely excited by the prospects of the match-up. The two best boxers in the world were going to fight. In a world where people love to argue the merits of each expert’s “pound-for-pound lists”, the public unanimously views Pacquiao and Mayweather as the numbers one and two fighters respectively.

Their ranking at the top is no longer opinion. It is fact.

Plus, Mayweather is the unquestioned star of HBO’s 24/7 series. Seeing weeks of build-up for the fight would make the anticipation grow to levels never before seen. Every sports fan in America (and beyond) would have to be excited for the fight.

The match-up would have been the biggest fight since Mike Tyson defeated Michael Spinks on June 27, 1988. Boxing had a chance to deliver the biggest fight of the past three decades.

Then, we learned far too much about drug testing.

Immediately, the cynic in me thought one of two things was happening. The first was that Mayweather and Pacquiao were just trying to build interest in the fight. To really be arguing about drug testing is just illogical.

The second was that this fight truly has no chance of happening. One of the fighters does not want to face the other. Or maybe neither of them wants to fight. I do not care who the culprit is. To me, that does not matter. As a fan, the only thing I cared about was the fact the biggest fight boxing has to offer would not get made.

Unfortunately for the entire sports world, the second scenario was correct. The biggest fight boxing can make will not take place.

We can debate for hours why the fight will not happen. We can blame Mayweather for requesting blood tests. We can blame Pacquiao for refusing to take them. We can blame Bob Arum, Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Sr., or Richard Schaefer for allowing this to spiral out of control.

None of that really matters. The fight is over.

In a few months, Pacquiao will be facing Yuri Foreman, and Mayweather will be taking on Paulie Malignaggi. Both are completely useless match-ups to the sport. No one outside of the hardcore fans will really care about the results.

After finally being excited about a boxing match then having it ripped away, I hope both boxers lose. If Mayweather and Pacquiao both win, the bickering will all start over. Maybe next time, we’d have to hear about the size of the gloves or the location of the fight or some detail that never should make it to the public.

Instead of gaining boatloads of new fans, boxing turned them away as they were banging on the cabin door. Well done. Maybe the NFL can counter and cancel the Super Bowl. That would never happen.

Boxing just set itself back twenty-one years. At least we can still fondly think back to the excitement and anticipation of when Mike Tyson stood in the ring with Michael Spinks.

The fight did not deliver, but at least the sport did.

According to various reports, the much anticipated bout between Pound for Pound King’s Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather will NOT happen on March 13th after a last ditch mediation session on Tuesday provided no resolution to save the bout.

The two camps met for nine hours in Santa Monica, California on Tuesday with a compromise on the table for which Pacquiao would undergo a drug testing procedure twenty-four days before the fight where Team Mayweather wanted the tests during fight week.

Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter was quoted in various reports that the fight cant happen and he will now look for Pacquiao to attempt to win a a title in an eighth weight division as he will look to take on WBA Super Welterweight champion Yuri Foreman on either March 13th or March 20th.

Mayweather nor his representatives were available for comment

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, the first day of a mediation process to hopefully resolve the differences between the camps of Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather lasted nine hours on Tuesday but did not produce a resolution for the proposed March 13th mega-fight to go forward.

Top Rank’s Bob Arum and Todd duBoef, along with their legal team, Golden Boy’s Richard Schaefer, Oscar De La Hoya, their legal team, and Mayweather manager Al Haymon spent the day with mediator Daniel Weinstein at offices in Santa Monica, Calif., hoping to pave the way for potentially the richest fight in boxing history.

“Mediation is still ongoing,” one of Top Rank’s lawyers told ESPN Deportes’ Jaime Mota.

Weinstein has placed a gag order on all parties.

It is unclear if the talks will resume on Wednesday.

They had agreed to everything in the deal except for the method of drug testing for the boxers.

Although the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which would oversee the bout, requires only urine testing, Mayweather has insisted on random blood testing. Both sides have already agreed to unlimited random urine testing.

Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KOs), who didn’t want any blood testing, agreed to take three blood tests: one during the week of the kickoff news conference, which would take place next week if they can make a deal, one random test to be conducted no later than 30 days before the fight and a final test in his dressing room after the fight. Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs) would be subject to the same testing procedures.

Besides Weinstein trying to mediate a resolution to the drug testing issue, there is also the matter of the defamation lawsuit Pacquiao filed last week in Nevada U.S. District Court against Mayweather Jr., Schaefer, De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Sr., Roger Mayweather and Mayweather Promotions.

Pacquiao alleges that they made false and defamatory statements and sullied his reputation by accusing him of taking performance-enhancing drugs. Pacquiao denies he has ever used PEDs and has never failed a drug test.

At issue is also Golden Boy’s continued involvement in Pacquaio’s contract. With Golden Boy representing Mayweather and allegedly accusing Pacquiao of using performance enhancing drugs, Arum believes it has diminished Pacquiao and that Golden Boy should no longer be entitled to share in the money his bouts generate, especially when it also is making money off Mayweather.

If the mediation fails, Arum has repeatedly said he will match Pacquiao with junior middleweight titlist Yuri Foreman, whom he also promotes, on March 20 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas so Pacquiao could attempt to win a title in a record-extending eighth weight division.

Mayweather could still fight on March 13 at the MGM Grand and potentially face former junior welterweight titlist Paulie Malignaggi.

Today in a room in a Santa Monica, California, boxing will be going under for its own form of major surgery.

The kind of surgery isn’t for a bum knee or a damaged elbow. It could be an operation to fix and resurrect any number of things inside the body of boxing.

Due to Doctor/Patient confidentiality we will call the patient “FMMP”.

FMMP is a potential larger than life event that could bring an influx of new fans to the sport. FMMP was set to debut on the Las Vegas strip on March 13th until some infections got in the way, hence the reason for this surgery.

Enter the honorable former judge Daniel Weinstein who will act as the lead surgeon. Helping him out in the board, I mean operating room will be represent eves from promotional giants, Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions as well as well as the inner circles of FM & MP.

What is the potential prognosis if this procedure succeeds or fails?

If Weinstein is successful, the sport of boxing will get what it’s been longing for a fight that its been yearning for since at least De La Hoya – Trinidad or Chavez – Whitaker and that fight was almost twenty years ago.

This is a fight that has been brewing for the better part of two years and this is all that boxing and even the non-boxing fans want to see.

After the news has been all over boxing and sports news services that a deal was reached in principle that the fight was closer to fruition then not, the infection, arose that the camp of FM wanted a more stringent drug testing procedure on MP started to fester in the body, of this patient.

Now if Weinstein can get this infection straightened out, the sport has a chance to be healthier than it’s been in a decade as a fight will be made that EVERYONE wants to witness.

Sure we know that this is a big money event that everyone involved from the fighters, promoters, casinos and right on the down the line will line their pockets with a bushel of cash but to have boxing back on center stage will be worth whatever we have had to endure over the last few weeks as we read about proposals and counter proposals about drug testing and drawing blood.

The potential of an unsuccessful surgery I don’t want to say will be catastrophic for the business but it would certainly be another bruise on the body that is boxing.

Many hardcore and even the very casual fan wants to see the bout between Mayweather and Pacquiao and lets home that the former Judge Weinstein can perform a magical procedure to help save this fight.

Photo Chris Farina/Top Rank

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, the saga between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather will take another turn on Tuesday as the sides will head to mediation in Santa Monica, California.

“We’re going into mediation,” Top Rank chairman Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter, told ESPN.com. “This guy (mediator, Daniel Weinstein) was successful resolving our nutty problem before and hopefully he can be successful this time. He’s a guy who is a big fight fan and loves the sport, and I found him last time to be a delight to deal with. Everybody did.”

At the time of the previous mediation, the companies had several ongoing lawsuits, including the one at the center of the bad blood: ownership of the promotional rights to Pacquiao, who had signed contracts with both companies before eventually pledging his loyalty to Top Rank.

When the disputes were settled in June 2007, Arum and Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer both credited Weinstein’s steady hand for getting them to reach an accord. Under the global settlement, Top Rank retained Pacquiao’s promotional rights with Golden Boy receiving a percentage of Top Rank’s profit from his future bouts.

The hope is that Weinstein can once again help the sides see their way through what has become an increasingly nasty battle in an effort to finalize the bout between welterweight titlist Pacquiao and Mayweather, the two best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, in a fight many believe will break the pay-per-view record of 2.44 million buys. Mayweather’s 2007 fight with Golden Boy president Oscar De La Hoya set the record.

Top Rank and Golden Boy have agreed on all points on the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight except for one: The protocol for drug testing.

One issue sure to be discussed in front of the mediator is the impact of the defamation lawsuit Pacquiao filed last week in Nevada U.S. District Court against Mayweather Jr., Schaefer, De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Sr., Roger Mayweather and Mayweather Promotions.

In the suit, Pacquiao alleges they made false and defamatory statements and sullied his reputation by accusing him of taking performance-enhancing drugs. Pacquiao denies he has ever used PEDs and has never failed a drug test.

If mediation fails, and the fight does not get made, Arum said he will match Pacquiao with junior middleweight titlist Yuri Foreman, whom he also promotes, on March 20 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas so Pacquiao could attempt to win a title in a record eighth weight division.

Mayweather could still fight on March 13 at the MGM and potentially face former junior welterweight titlist Paulie Malignaggi.

“This one storm is going to change the face of our planet. When this storm is over, we’ll be in a new ice age. My God.” – Professor Jack Hall, “The Day After Tomorrow”

Thank heavens the hyperbolic professor didn’t have an internet connection and an interest in boxing these last 40 days. Who knows how many worlds he might have seen ending? But then, if he’d had those things there’s an outside chance his carrying on might have been ridiculous enough for us to snicker, find our equilibrium and realize that – much as in the poorly scripted case above – the end of the world is not nigh.

Nor is the end of boxing. Nor – mercilessly enough – is the end of negotiations for Manny Pacquiao to fight Floyd Mayweather and determine the mythical pound-for-pound titlist of 2010. Soft deadlines have passed. Hard deadlines have come and gone. New Year’s Day is in the books. Both sides are unwilling to budge. And with March 13 looming but 68 days from here, there’s not nearly enough time to fill Cowboys Stadium!

Get a hold of yourself. This fight was never going anywhere but Las Vegas. With MGM Grand the settled site for Pacquiao-Mayweather, there are no tickets to sell; attracting pay-per-viewers is the only point of the promotion. That means HBO’s “24/7” program is the de facto promoter and the ultimate deadline needn’t come before Feb. 1.

That could be the last word in optimism if optimism were warranted. It isn’t.

Anyone reading this column cares enough about our sport to cast a wary eye at outsiders who assure us boxing’s future relies on this fight coming off. I know, I know. We finally had the New York Times and Wall Street Journal’s validation. Well, so long as this fight looked doable, it behooved us all to agree this was the most important happening of the millennium. Now that Pacquiao-Mayweather in Texas has gone the way of Pacquiao-Valero in Macao, though, ask yourself: How does this fight affect me?

Manny Pacquiao is considered the world’s best fighter. Floyd Mayweather is considered the world’s second-best fighter. If they were to fight, those positions would likely switch. How is that good for boxing?

Pacquiao is a charismatic action fighter who’s created a market for prizefighting in the Philippines and made it popular as ever throughout Asia. Mayweather is a foul-mouthed defensive specialist whose fights lose more fans than they gain. Pacquiao is good for boxing. Mayweather is good for Mayweather.

Mayweather is also too smart by half, this time. He’s devised a strategy of implying Pacquiao has been cheating, without exactly saying it. He didn’t want fair play; he wanted another psychological advantage over another opponent. He knew Pacquiao would consider the blood testing intrusive. He knew in Pacquiao’s mind it would be “Money May” himself reaching in those veins and doing God knows what with the blood.

Hey, as an American immune to superstition, I’m with Mayweather on the testing. I’d probably agree to the testing even if I did have something to hide – betting on the testers’ incompetence. But most Filipinos would refuse blood tests even if they had nothing to hide.

If the fight’s off because neither side flinches on blood tests, Pacquiao remains the world’s best fighter. Mayweather holds down the two spot. Works for me.

But let’s hope it doesn’t work for Mayweather. Let’s hope being a runner-up enkindles him enough to declare war on the welterweight division, demand the head of whoever wins the upcoming match between Shane Mosley and Andre Berto, and then issue beatings to Joshua Clottey, Miguel Cotto and Luis Collazo.

Wait, stop laughing.

A more likely scenario of course is that Mayweather will pursue dwindling-money fights with old guys and b-level talents until he, too, becomes an old guy. If that happens, Mayweather’s ultimate legacy will look like this: Top 10 talent, Top 100 resume.

Oh, no it won’t! I’ll remind the world till the day I die that Pacquiao ducked him by refusing blood tests!

No, you won’t. Someday you’ll be married with kids and a full-time job and no more than an hour of every week for message boards. Then, only Mayweather’s record of actual fights will matter, and some youngster half your age will say: “Not one prime hall-of-famer on that 50-0 record.”

Based on their past exploits, we can assume Pacquiao really wants this fight, Mayweather sort of wants this fight, Golden Boy Promotions really wants this fight, and Top Rank sort of wants this fight. Though they share similar levels of enthusiasm, Mayweather is wrong and Top Rank is right – coincidentally, for the same reason:

If anyone can solve Manny Pacquiao, it’s Floyd Mayweather.

Pacquiao and his millions of fans don’t know this. Mayweather and his dozens of fans do. And so, one assumes, do a few people in Top Rank – the company that developed Mayweather before it developed Pacquiao. Top Rank won’t jeopardize the Pacman party till it gets plenty more concessions at the negotiating table.

If Pacquiao-Mayweather does happen, though, it will be an event. The New York Times will be there. The undercard will be unwatchable. The fight itself will be dull. Mayweather will hold the sport of boxing hostage – whupping the daylights out of the Matty Hattons of the world – for five more years. And we’ll all be $100 million richer.

No we won’t. Yet, that’s the final reason why many seem to think they have a vested interest in this fight happening: Because it will make a lot of money. Money for whom? In prizefighting the money distributes like the talent on a super-fight’s marquee: 90 percent in the top 10 percent.

So, dry your eyes. And remember, less money in boxing, not more, is what made 2009 so much better than 2008.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter.com/bartbarry

“When archaeologists discover the missing arms of Venus de Milo, they will find she was wearing boxing gloves.”
— John Barrymore

The late Barrymore, a great American actor more than 70 years ago, is long gone, but he could have been speaking about the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather negotiations, which have been putting more nausea into ad nauseam with each passing day. It’s hard to know whether to laugh, cry, scream or just ask for the barf bag.

I’ve done all of that and more since the talks spun out of control and into a familiar gutter. There are no winners here, other than perhaps Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Arizona Senator John McCain.

Jones must be relieved that nobody dragged him into it by accepting his $25-million offer to stage the fight at Cowboys Stadium. McCain has to be happy he didn’t follow up on a reported suggestion that he become an arbitrator. The escalating Pacquiao-Mayweather blood feud makes the health-care debate sound like kumbaya. There’s no peace here. Only a piece of you-know-what.

How the talks, seemingly so smooth in the early stages, turned into such a stinking mess is probably not a surprise if placed within boxing’s usual context, which is older than Barrymore’s defining line and probably at least as ancient as the marble in the de Milo statue. But Pacquiao-Mayweather looked as if it were a chance to move on and beyond a frayed way of doing business.

That said, the business still beckons with enough potential money to say that it also wouldn’t be a surprise if the fight was signed, sealed and delivered in a sudden announcement next week. With a reported potential of $40 million for each side, it’s hard, perhaps impossible, to walk away. In the end, nobody is making a compromise. There is only one thing they’re making: Money, money, money.

But the process won’t make new fans out of a public leery of a sport that never seems to get out of its own way. Michael Katz, who is to fight-writing what Barrymore was to acting, would write that the only thing killing boxing is boxing. Nothing has changed and, oh yeah, Happy New Year.

Pacquiao’s defamation suit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, against Mayweather Jr., Mayweather Sr., Roger Mayweather, Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer could only insert more vitriol into rancor that began with the Mayweather camp’s demand for Olympic-style blood testing. That’s one interpretation among many, too many.

Who knows? Both sides were quick to say that the lawsuit doesn’t necessarily kill the fight. Okay, then maybe it is just another step in the negotiations. To wit: The Pacquiao camp says it will drop the lawsuit if Mayweather backs off on the demand for random testing, especially unannounced tests within 30 days of opening bell, which had been scheduled for March 13. Then again, maybe the lawsuit is a real expression of Pacquiao’s anger at how he believes he has been smeared by the blood-testing demand, which includes at least an implication he is using HGH.

Pacquiao’s drug-testing resume is spotless in Nevada. But the state’s Athletic Commission doesn’t conduct the comprehensive, random tests done by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. Oh yeah, USADA has been another issue. The Mayweather camp wanted it to conduct the tests. No way, said the Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum, who has said urine testing is sufficient. But physicians have said repeatedly that only random blood tests can detect HGH.

Credibility? That’s hard to detect anywhere.

The Mayweather demands are undercut on several fronts. Schaefer said no to blood testing for Shane Mosley, a former BALCO client, amid plans for a fight in 2008 against Zab Judah. According to reports of testimony to a grand-jury investigation, Mosley said he unknowingly used the clear, the cream and EPO, which were Performance Enhancing Drugs readily available in BALCO’s PED dispenser. Yet, Schaefer said Mosley had never tested positive in tests conducted by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Hence, Schaefer said, it was wrong to treat him as a cheater.

“We are not going to do other tests than the Nevada commission requires,’’ Schaefer said in an Associated Press story. “The fact is Shane is not a cheater and he does not need to be treated like one.”

Why should Pacquiao be treated any differently?

Then, there’s Pacquiao who has reportedly said he doesn’t like needles, yet has tattoos that prove he has been needled often. Pacquiao’s anger at suspicions inherent to Mayweather’s demands is understandable. But those same suspicions are also the price of athletic fame these days. Even if Pacquiao pursues the lawsuit and wins, he will have to live with questions he can’t knock out. Olympic swimmer Dara Torres underwent a battery of random tests at her own request when she decided to make a comeback as a 40-year-old mom. She passed them all. Yet, suspicions are still there.

Olympic-style testing, no matter what acronym conducts them, is random and more thorough than anything done by a boxing commission. But the prevailing assumption is that athletes are always a masking agent ahead of any technology.

Mayweather has to know that, too, and he has used it in what some say is an early attempt at gamesmanship. Then again, there are others who say that Mayweather is simply hiding behind the demand in an attempt to delay the fight until May or September. The theory is that Mayweather has decided he wants a tune-up.

An extra helping of skepticism is needed for anything done by Mayweather. He likes to talk about a level playing field and transparency, yet he was happy to pay Juan Manuel Marquez $600,000 — $300,000 a pound – for being two over the contracted weight in September. Then, he refused an HBO request to step on an unofficial scale on the night before his one-sided decision over Marquez. So much for transparency.

In hindsight, you can only wonder why everybody talked and acted as though the March 13 fight was a done deal when there wasn’t a contract with Mayweather’s signature on it. There’s another New Year’s resolution in there somewhere.

But maybe this flap is a good thing. Initially, Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach balked at March 13. It was too early, he said. Pacquiao still needed time to recover from his bruising victory over Miguel Cotto in November. And, yeah, maybe Mayweather really does need a tune-up. And, maybe, a fight later in 2010 will lead to some history in the ring and a rich rematch. More important, maybe it represents an opportunity for Nevada and other state boxing commissions to upgrade the testing process, especially for the biggest fights.

But, please, quit all the rancorous maybes and get the fight done. If there are only lawsuits and screaming arguments, only archaeologists will find the game, buried with de Milo’s long, lost arms.

Photo By Chris Farina/Top Rank