Full Mayweather-Pacquiao coverage
They agreed to get the fight done. But that may be about all.
Though nothing has developed that will impede the ring duel between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao on May 2 in Las Vegas, the days leading to fight night at the MGM Grand may feature an increased rate of verbal grenade launching.
The latest salvo has come in the form of a proposal by Team Pacquiao that -- alongside an already agreed-to drug-testing regimen -- any fighter coming up with a failed test would be forced to pay a $5 million penalty to the other, beyond any resulting regulatory fines and suspensions.
Pacquiao adviser Michael Koncz told CBSSports.com that he received word that Team Mayweather had declined the additional monetary consequence as unnecessary beyond the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) sanctions and Nevada State Athletic Commission oversight that are already in place.
At least one observer, though, told CBSSports.com it's all much ado about nothing.
"I think it is a lot of PR," said Randy Gordon, former chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission and current host of SiriusXM's At the Fights.
"They went over every possible aspect of this fight with a fine-tooth comb leading up to the signing of the contract and the announcing of the fight a few weeks ago. All this stuff, about the drug testing and the paying of sparring partners not to work with Pacquiao are strictly PR. Who knows what they will come up with next to keep us talking about this fight until the bell rings?"
Not surprisingly, Koncz views the refusal as hypocritical to the "Floyd wants to clean up the sport" flag that he said the Mayweather team has been flying for the last several years. And, he said, the fighters should be the ones compensated -- not the commissions or agencies -- in the event of a failed drug test. That's what he suggested his proposal would do.
"We put our money where our mouth is," Koncz said.
"If you test dirty, you pay us $5 million. If we test dirty, we pay you $5 million. The only thing it has to do with is his integrity. He's been flapping his mouth for five years. Now, we tell him 'OK, we'll put up $5 million where your mouth is' and he doesn't want to do it. We don't have the ability to force him. Let the fans decide why he's not going to sign an agreement to put up $5 million."
Koncz said he didn't suggest the $5 million penalty in the original contract because "it could have blown the fight," but he said the camps discussed the idea before a separate USADA contract was signed. It wasn't included in the USADA deal, he said, because the testing agency "didn't want to become a collection agency for money."
He suggests, though, that Mayweather's camp might have had some influence on the agency.
"They felt that they could punish someone, if one of them was positive, because they could suspend them for four years," Koncz said. "We discussed that with (USADA) in person about inserting the $5 million penalty. They presented that to Mayweather and then when they came back they said. 'No, we don't want to be a collection agency,' so I think Mayweather's team talked them out of it."
Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe was quoted by ESPN.com calling Koncz "an idiot" and suggesting that Pacquiao "should be ashamed" to have him as a representative.
Koncz replied with equal vigor to CBSSports.com, saying, "I don't care what Leonard says. His vocabulary is only two words. I don't know if he learned that around the ghetto or in the toilet, I'm not sure. He should spend more time conducting the business of promoting this fight than trying to ridicule me."
