If Mayweather Ever Fight Pacquiao He is a Proven Liar

Since way back in 2009 when negotiations first began for a megafight between undefeated #1 pound for pound all-time great Floyd "Money" Mayweather and eight divisional, fellow all-time great Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao, Mayweather has had a litany of excuses for not facing the Filipino phenom. At first, after being influenced by his father (Floyd Sr.), Mayweather insisted that Pacquiao undergo random blood testing for the fight which was not obligated by the Nevada commission. To be fair, Floyd himself said he would undergo the same exact testing. I was on board with this request as many others were at the time. If Floyd wasn't asking Manny to do something he wasn't willing to do himself, it sounded reasonable to me. There was quibbling as to how close to the fight the testing would be conducted. The initial negotiations were conducted publically and there was word that Pacquiao wasn't too keen on drawing blood too close to the fight for fear of being weakened. There was talk of him being uncomfortable with needles which some found odd considering that he has tattoos. However, there is a difference between getting a tattoo in which the needle touches the surface of the skin and being injected with a needle and losing blood very close to a fight. At any rate, I was still in Floyd's corner at this time. I have been a huge Mayweather fan since 1996 during his ESPN2 days and I'm in awe of his pugilistic gifts. I paid $1,200 to watch him fight Miguel Cotto in Las Vegas which is about $1,200 more than anyone I know who claims to be a die hard fan has done. When negotiations fell apart even after a mediator was called in, I was furious at Pacquiao. I was convinced that Pacquiao was being unreasonable and perhaps his promoter Bob Arum (who had previously been Mayweather's promoter before their acrimonious split and is not exactly a sympathetic, authentic human being beyond reproach) wasn't negotiating in good faith. Ironically, it was Floyd who I would later discover was the one not negotiating in good faith and far from virtuous and veracious himself. Subsequent to the initial negotiations in 2009, Pacquiao filed a defamation lawsuit against Mayweather for slander, accusing him and others in his camp of falsely labelling him a cheater and a PED user with no evidence to substantiate the allegation such as a failed test and only his amazing accomplishments as evidence. I found it quite odd that if Floyd really wanted to face Manny, why he would go on a smear campaign and villify his potential opponent, including spewing racist youtube rants all while sitting back and allowing him to face one monster after another and thus risking losing out on a colossal payday? That doesn't sound like something that a person who was negotiating in good faith with the moniker "money" would do. As the old addage goes: actions speak louder than words. I finally woke up and realized that Floyd's actions in the past five years have been consistent with a person who never really wanted to fight Pacquiao for fear of it putting a blemish on his record, but due to pride was afraid to admit it. Instead, he went on a mission to cleverly twist facts and utter contradictory statements such as "Pacquiao, you're next" and later after being asked by a reporter who alluded to that statement if Manny was indeed his next opponent, replying "I never said that. Don't put words in my mouth". Floyd went on to personally call Manny after blood testing was no longer an issue and utilized the oldest trick in the boxing book: pricing yourself out of the fight. Mayweather who at the time was (and still is) the #1 pay-per-view draw offered Pacquiao who was (and still is) the #2 pay-per-view draw a flat 40M offer and zero revenue from pay per view. Bear in mind, this fight by nearly all experts' estimates would easily generate 3M buys on pay per view (240M based on an $80 buy rate) not to mention the live gate, movie theatre and international revenue, and merchandising. Sure, 40M is a lot of scratch, but why would a fighter who has made 25M+ in lesser magnitute fights and is almost as big of a draw as Floyd, accept that much less for a fight that would surely break all-time records? Mayweather knew he wouldn't bite, and thus was presenting what this author refers to as "the anti-Godfather offer" which is basically "I'll make him an offer he'll never accept". That is the quintessence of negotiating in bad faith. Pacquiao demanded a 50/50 take which was the initial agreed upon split. After Pacquiao ended up losing a horrific decision to Timothy Bradley and was subsequently knocked out in a fight of the year caliber match against rival Juan Manuel Marquez, he was no longer in a position to demand a 50% take and went on record that he was willing to accept 40%. No longer being able to utilize the blood testing or purse excuses, Floyd resorted to his latest absurd request: for Manny to leave his longtime promoter Bob Arum. Now, Floyd is refusing to do business with Bob Arum. Since Arum has been Pacquiao's promoter since before 2009 and was clearly not the deal breaker back then, it is glaringly obvious that Floyd is running out of clever excuses to duck the fight. Mayweather has now backed himself into a corner big time! If he ever faces Pacquiao next year in one of the final fights on his lucrative Showtime contract, it will prove that he is a liar and an excuse maker who waited until he and his team felt Pacman was ripe for the taking and has gone from being a danger to Floyd's 0 to being in danger of being gobbled up by not "Blinky", "Pinky" or "Inky" but "Money".