A sparkle of hope? Maybe, maybe not. But Floyd Mayweather Jr. sent out a statement this evening saying that he still wants to fight Manny Pacquiao. Take it how you wish.
"Throughout this whole process I have remained patient, but at this point I am thoroughly disgusted that Pacquiao and his representatives are trying to blame me for the fight not happening when clearly the blame is on them.
"First and foremost, not only do I want to fight Manny Pacquiao, I want to whip his punk ass.
"Before the mediation, my team proposed a 14-day, no blood testing window leading up to the fight. But it was rejected. I am still proposing the 14-day window but he is still unwilling to agree to it, even though this is obviously a fair compromise on my part as I wanted the testing to be up until the fight and he wanted a 30-day cut-off. The truth is he just doesn't want to take the tests.
"In my opinion it is Manny Pacquiao and his team who are denying the people a chance to see the biggest fight ever. I know the people will see through their smokescreens and lies. I am ready to fight and sign the contract. Manny needs to stop making his excuses, step up and fight."
Mayweather is placing the blame squarely on Pacquiao, and realizes that this is the biggest fight there is, which is no surprise. Mayweather is not a stupid man by any stretch. He also says they want a 14-day window, and Pacquiao wants 30 days. Floyd believes Manny just doesn't want to take the tests at all, but either way, both sides are holding firm.
This leads me to think that this fight isn't quite dead yet, which many folks suspect anyway. Many of those same people are citing the fact that Pacquiao's May fight with Ricky Hatton was decalred "off" too, and then came back together shortly after. But their disagreement was a slight difference in the split of the money. This is something unprecedented, while that was rather routine.
We'll see, but this isn't done playing out, at least in the press
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