MANILA, Philippines - Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao said Saturday that the super fight between him and Floyd Mayweather Jr. now depends on the American boxer after he has agreed to undergo a blood test 14 days before their faceoff.
"Talagang hindi siya lalaban kung mangatwiran ulit siya," Pacquiao told radio dzMM when asked what he would do if Mayweather comes up with a new demand.
He said that if ever the superfight fails to push through, he may still fight another boxer or just retire and focus on his newfound career in politics.
Pacquiao has been proclaimed as winner in Sarangani Province's congressional race. He toppled a member of a powerful political clan in the province.
The Filipino boxer said he will take a 1-week crash course on public administration and governance at the University of the Philippines.
He said he is also determined to finish his business management course at the Notre Dame University in 2 years and then take up law.
Pacquiao clarified Friday that the blood that would extracted from him should only be minimal for the drug test.
“Pumayag naman ako pero hindi yung talagang maraming dugo na kukunin. Kung anong dugo ang kelangan sa drug test, ganoon lang karami. Fourteen days [before the fight],” Pacquiao told ABS-CBN News' Dyan Castillejo.
Pacquiao said during the radio interview that he has yet to receive a feedback from the camp of Mayweather.
The reigning World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champion said he softened his stand after listening to boxing fans’ clamor for a mega fight between him and Mayweather.
“Everywhere I go… gusto talaga nila ng Mayweather fight. [They ask me] over and over,” said Pacquiao.
Pacquiao made the decision to fight the former pound-for-pound king weeks after he received permission from his mother, Dionisia Pacquiao, for one last bout.
The blood test controversy was the reason the negotiations between the Pacquiao and Mayweather camps collapsed early this year.
The two would have fought last March 13, but Mayweather ended up fighting Shane Mosley and Pacquiao battling Ghana's Joshua Clottey.
Pacquiao’s camp earlier agreed to undergo tests 24 days before the fight, but Mayweather’s group insisted that blood should be taken 14 days prior to the fight.
Blood test as the drug protocol is the personal requirement for Mayweather. Athletic commissions require urine tests on boxers as the form of drug testing, and Pacquiao has never had a problem.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said he learned the last day for blood testing used by Mayweather and "Sugar" Shane Mosley in their recent fight was 18 days prior to the fight.
"The USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) stopped the blood test... they took 5 or 6 tests but the last one was 18 days for Mosley and 19 days for Mayweather," he told ABS-CBN News' Dyan Castillejo in a phone interview. (abs-cbn news.com)
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