By April MacIntyre Jan 1, 2010, 19:12 GMT
Boxing fans are watching and waiting to see the outcome of what has become a contentious lead up to one of the most anticipated televised boxing matches of the new decade.
Filipino Boxing Champ Manny 'Pacman' Pacquiao - will we see him in action on HBO this year with Floyd? EPA/DENNIS M. SABANGAN
HBO boxing commentator Larry Merchant was interviewed by USA Today and said that the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. match-up could still be saved by “cooler heads” from both fighter's camps.
“I find it unimaginable that either the Pacquiao camp or Team Mayweather would let this fight slip away,” Merchant said. “I have never seen any fight this big fall apart on an issue like drug-testing.”
Read Manny's statement here
Merchant shared that it was usually issues of money that blew up hyped pairings like the Pac-Man and the Pretty Boy.
When asked about the chances that this fight will happen in 2010, Merchant was somewhat optimistic.
"(Bernard) Hopkins and (Roy) Jones were negotiating for a decade it seemed for a rematch from their 1993 fight. But that was about money. I don't think the boxing world grieves over the fact that it didn't get made. There's so much money involved here, even if irrationality triumphs over rationality, I think eventually the fight will get made. If they can't come to terms for a March fight then I think it'll happen at some later date. I think by the end of the holidays cooler heads will come to a compromise...boxing is a business, where the players sometimes like to engage in dominance rituals.”
Merchant also shared that Pacquiao might have refused to submit to the random Olympic-style drug testing sought by Mayweather because he feels he is being singled out.
Now a defamation lawsuit was filed Wednesday against Floyd Mayweather Jr. and his supporters by Manny Pacquiao.
The suit alleges Mayweather and his reps maliciously, knowingly, publicly, and wrongly accused Pacquiao of doping.
The Daily News reported that LA attorney Dan Petrocelli is representing Pacquiao.
"If you know anything about Manny Pacquiao, he doesn't have that risk," said Petrocelli to the Daily News "With lot of these cases, there's some sort of corroboration of the statements - a witness, a prescription, a trainer, a Jose Canseco. Here there's nothing."
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