Floyd Mayweather rejected $10 million drug penalty for Manny Pacquiao

I thought I had a semi-bright idea to solve the blood testing contractual impasse which threatens to blow up the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao mega fight which was planned for March 13.
Why not, I thought, take a cue from the over-contractual weight penalty clause that has been used in prior fights (including Mayweather’s September victory over Juan Manuel Marquez) and insert a million dollars or more penalty if either Floyd or Manny comes up “dirty” in pre or post bout testing?
(In fact, Pacquiao demanded a $10 million per pound over contract weight of 147 pounds clause and Mayweather swiftly agreed.)
I just spoke to a still furious Bob Arum, erupting like Mt. St. Helen’s unleashing hot, molten lava, and Pacquiao’s promoter told me, in no uncertain terms, that he views the random blood testing demanded by the Mayweather is harassment for his client and a ruse to get out of fighting his main Man-ny.
Arum also put the kibosh on my perky concept, saying his stepson and Top Rank president Todd duBoef had already tried that play.
“The fight is off. We will not go along with anytime blood testing the way they want it,” Arum said. “It’s harassment of Manny, that’s all it is. They’re playing mind games and one of their games could be to pop up and say, at the weigh in, 'OK we now demand a blood test.'
“The testing by the Nevada commission is more than adequate to catch any malefactors,” Arum said, resorting to one of his learned-at-Harvard-Law-School words. “But Mayweather is bigger than the commission. Mayweather is bigger than the sport itself.
“Because his idiot of a father (Floyd Senior) says Manny is cheating with drugs that justifies everything. They can test Manny at any other time they want to, we don’t have a problem with that, but not right before the fight. They want to harass him psychologically.”
Arum said he and duBoef extended an offer of a “caught dirty” penalty to apply to both boxers.
“I sent Todd in like my Neville Chamberlain (British prime minister who preceded Winston Churchill and who appeased Adolf Hitler) to settle it that way,” Arum said.
“We named some crazy amounts of money here., really anything they want…make it $5 million or $10 million, that is fine. But they weren’t interested.”

Arum said he had “no idea” what position Mayweather’s unofficial manager, Al Haymon, takes on the deal blowing up over the blood test demands but he did take a sly shot at Golden Boy bossman and former banker Richie Rich Schaefer.
Arum said Schaefer just follows the script as dictated to him by Mayweather.
“You know Swiss bankers, they will go along with anything…if you know what I mean,” Arum said, an apparent reference to the IRS crackdown on Americans holding secret accounts at Schaefer’s ex-employer, UBS Bank.
(Note that Schaefer's reputation as a banker is unsullied in any way. You may accuse Arum of dirty pool here but I'm sure Richie can more than counterpunch with Arum if he cares to.)
Arum reiterated that the Mayweather can have urine testing done at any time, even up to 24 hours before the fight.
“We don’t want the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) either,” Arum said. “All the doctors say that urine testing is superior to blood testing anyway. We say bring in the same agency that tests the NBA and NFL players and let them handle it. This is professional boxing not some amateur sport.
“We’ve been more than reasonable on this. I’ll say it again, Mayweather is a coward, he has always been a coward and he never wanted to fight Manny.”

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