By Abac Cordero (The Philippine Star) Updated January 20, 2010 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Floyd Mayweather Jr. will just be a tiny bleep on the radar when Manny Pacquiao and Josh Clottey formalize their March 13 fight, the first big fight of the year, today at the $1.3 billion Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
It’s the first of only two stops in the fight’s promotional tour, but promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who made sure he’d land one of the remaining Pacquiao fights, are treating it like the Super Bowl.
The Cowboys were kicked out of the NFL playoffs, and what’s bad for their fans is good for fight fans because Jones, who was willing to spend $25 million just to land the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight, can throw all his time for this fight.
Pacquiao checked in at a luxurious resort in Las Colinas, which is near the Cowboys Stadium, Monday night.
Clottey, who came all the way from Ghana to New York, is in the same building as well as the promoters, led by Arum.
On Wednesday, they fly to New York for another press event at the Madison Square Garden. Then both fighters part ways, lock up in their respective training quarters, and the next time they meet will be on fight week, ready to rumble.
It’s going to be a tough fight for both fighters, but it’s Clottey who will have everything to win on this one. For the first time in his career, he will get paid over $1 million, and for the first time, too, he’d be in the biggest stage in boxing.
And it’s biggest when Pacquiao, the reigning WBO welterweight champion, is on the other corner.
Elsewhere, a fight between Mayweather and Shane Mosley cropped up after Andre Berto, who was supposed to face Mosley on Jan. 30 in Las Vegas, pulled out of the fight in sympathy of his grieving countrymen from earthquake-ravaged Haiti.
It was supposed to be Pacquiao vs Mayweather this March, but both camps could not find a common ground on the drug-testing procedures, and ended up with the Filipino camp hurling those from the other side to court.
And now it’s Pacquiao vs Clottey and Mayweather vs Mosley, a fight that’s still far from being sealed even if they’ve come up with a date, May 1, of course in Las Vegas.
There are questions whether Mosley will agree to Mayweather’s demands regarding the blood-testing.
Leonard Ellerbe, Mayweather’s adviser, told The Grand Rapids Press that “anyone who fights the Grand Rapids native (Mayweather) will be subject to random blood-testing.”
The undefeated American wants an Olympic-style blood-testing in the months, weeks, days and hours before and after the fight, and Pacquiao wouldn’t budge, saying he’s only open to one 24 days before the fight and maybe 30 minutes after.
“Whoever fights Floyd Mayweather in the future, that person will be subjected to random blood and urine testing. I don’t care who he fights, that will be the case. Floyd is out front, championing this effort to change the way the sport is handled in the future,” Ellerbe said.
Source: philstar.com
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