Top Rank promoter, Bob Arum, said that the Mayweather vs Pacquiao fight scheduled for March 13 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas "in my mind, is dead as a door nail," adding that, "we're starting to look, today, for other opponents" for Pacquiao. At the center of the negotiating impasse is the Mayweather camp's insistence on Olympic-style drug-testing, specifically, in taking blood samples, randomly "up to and including the weigh-in the day before the fight," said Arum. Pacquiao had agreed to random urinalysis testing at any time, said Arum. But the seven-division champion from the Philippines, believing that giving blood so close to fight time would weaken him, would supply blood only 30 days out from the fight or directly after the fight, Arum said. "As far as I can see, nothing is going on with the fight. I really believe that this exposes the fact that Mayweather never had any intentions to do the fight," said Arum. "I don't think that I can salvage this fight because Mayweather -- the fighter on the other side -- does not want to fight, he never wanted to fight Manny Pacquiao, and he's afraid to lose." Floyd Mayweather's being coddled by sycophants like [Golden Boy Promotions CEO] Richard Schaefer, who ought to be ashamed of himself for the statements that he's made." Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 knockouts) earned an unprecedented seventh crown in as many different weight classes when he took Miguel Cotto's WBO welerweight (147 pounds) title with a 12th-round knockout on Nov. 14. Arum said that Pacquiao could go after an unprecedented eighth crown in as many weight divisions against New York's newly-crowned WBA titlist Yuri Foreman (28-0, eight KOs), or he could fight Mexican great Juan Manuel Marquez (50-5-1, 37 KOs) at 140 pounds, against whom Pacquiao has fought to a disputed draw and earned a disputed decision, respectively.
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