I only have one question for Pacquiao supporters and then I will leave it alone...

I still think this **** is so funny when brits say it. Takin some ****.:rofl

 

You have kicked some considerable ass here. That comes from a fan of both fighters - as this forum well knows. Pacquaio and his team have completely dropped the ball on this one. At very minimum Floyd wins the first salvo going away. But he's done better than that. The incredibly contradictory and changing responses of Team Pacquiao since the issue was raised has become a PR nightmare. Better to have come clean or stated up front that it was simply a matter of "principle" than be this far into the game after having changed the story several times. Is is fear of needles? Apparently not, as the cool response to the 14 day pre-Hatton bout testing clearly shows. Apparently not, as the assorted prominent tattoos can attest. Fear of "weakness"? Apparently not, with Pac's most sensational and powerful win coming after that same blood work. Blood work for routine disease testing, I might add, that required much more blood than the miniscule amount to be taken for each suggested random test prior to a potential Mayweather showdown. And what's with the apparent disparity between Roach and Arum on the matter? My theory is a carefully contrived strategy with Roach making it appear that random and close to fight night is perfectly ok, and Arum saying no way. Arum, being the crotchety old ***** is quite content to take the fall. Roach puts up the the hint that everything goes, short of testing a day or too prior to the bell, to save face. Now the Hatton vid hits the media and Arum is forced to whistle a different tune. He's cluing in that the optics have steadily worsened - rightly or wrongly - to the point where they risk serious long term damage to Pacquiao's reputation if they don't pull this out of the fire. After all, Mayweather has ceded to every single significant demand made by the other camp. Mayweather and GBP knew the card to play and it has caused a ton of grief for Pac, his handlers, and his promoter. This is the fight we all want. For the sake of saving it I'd say it's time for Manny to front up and sort out testing that is meaningful (i.e. random - blood and urine). Perhaps a pre-fight cut-off of 3-5 days is perfectly acceptable. Another immediately after the bout. Is that so much to ask for a $30-40M payday? Maybe the PR hit is already too severe for them to salvage, but the fight could still be saved. I am not condemning Pacquiao in any way, but his camp's collective response to this has not looked good at all.