The planned showdown between Filipino hero Pacquiao, a seven-division world champion, and unbeaten US star Mayweather could have brought each fighter as much as 40 million US dollars in a rare Las Vegas mega-fight spectacular. Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter, said Mayweather’s request to have stricter US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) testing methods, including possible random blood tests within days of the bout, killed any hope of reaching a deal.

According to reports, Mayweather was insisting on greater blood and urine testing than normal. Pacquiao was willing to commit to tests in January, 30 days before the fight and after the bout. But Mayweather insisted on a USADA-administered program that opened the door for possible random blood tests within days of the fight. Neither fighter had ever tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance under typical Nevada dope tests, which involve only urine samples that are taken just before and after the fight. Arum saw Mayweather’s insisting on random blood testing as a way out to avoid having to weigh in and face Pacquiao, who did not want blood drawn so close to the fight, Arum told the Grand Rapids Press.

The video posted above covers the controversy that would eventually kill this much anticipated fight in March. My thoughts on this is that Pacquiao will always have someone to fight and Mayweather just lost his chance to prove to the world that he is a REAL fighter. I like many other boxing fans felt robbed on Christmas Eve when I heard of this news and if the Bob Arum, the big man at Top Rank says the fight is dead then it’s dead.

Additional Sources:
ESPN.com
smh.com.au
Boxing Insider
Yahoo! News