Pacquiao V. Mayweather: "The Greatest Fight Never Fought"

GQ has a wonderful story about Manny Pacquiao written by Andrew Corsello in April’s issue. Here’s the sidebar, written by Daniel Riley, they gave us permission to republish, which is not online yet.

March 13. MGM Grand. The world’s two greatest boxers, Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, are slated to pummel each other for a payout of roughly $35 million each. And then it all falls to pieces. Mayweather accuses Manny of doping, demanding random blood tests up until the day of the fight-a highly unusual move in the boxing world. Manny says having blood taken within thirty days of a bout screws him up physically and mentally. Then Manny reduces the window to twenty-four days. Not good enough for Mayweather. Fight’s off. Two guys who won’t compromise-that’s all it is, right? Or is it? Three popular theories:

Mayweather-who is 40-0-is terrified of losing. Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter, lays it out better than we ever could: “Mayweather knew when he made his demand that it would never be accepted-and that’s why he made it. You gotta understand Mayweather. He is an extremely good boxer. But something about his mentality is flawed. It’s like, ‘If I lose a fight, I become nothing.’ It’s like death. This is not to say he doesn’t believe he can beat Pacquiao. But he’s not sure. And he doesn’t want to risk psychological death. Honestly, I feel sorry for the kid. Physically, he’s not afraid. But psychologically, he’s a coward.”

Pacquiao actually is using steroids. Remember when we knew Jose Canseco was full of shit when we found out that he was right about more than a few? Manny’s suing the Mayweather camp for defamation, and lots of people believe him. Manny’s never failed a drug test. But lots of people don’t.

It’s all just a charade to boost the purse of a future fight. Imagine it: the rematch of the match that never was! The bad blood! The hype squared!

The $100 million purse?