From Kevin Iole over at Yahoo Sports
Floyd Mayweather Jr. would not agree to a compromise on his insistence for Olympic-style drug testing and, as a result, the planned March 13 bout with Manny Pacquiao is officially off, promoter Bob Arum told Yahoo! Sports on Wednesday.
Mediator Daniel Weinstein, a retired federal judge, was unable to bring the sides to an agreement for the historic bout after two days of negotiations over the drug-testing dispute
“Manny’s reaction is that he’s very disappointed because he wanted to give the fans this fight,” Pacquiao adviser Mike Koncz, his de facto manager, said by telephone from the Philippines, where he is with Pacquiao. “He is upset his reputation has been tarnished and he wants his fans to know that at some point, you have to stand on principle. He’s walking away from $35 million, $40 million, maybe $50 million on principle.”
As an MMA fan you have to snicker a little bit at how boxing could screw up what would potentially be the biggest and richest bout maybe ever. As an all-around combat sports fan I think its a damn shame that we won't be treated to this fight at least not in the foreseeable future.
Dana White and the Zuffa brass will no doubt go off on this as well they should. As our beloved sport continues to grow, boxing fails to deliver yet again.
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