MANILA, Philippines – Boxing promoter Bob Arum is not so positive about a possible super fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2012.
"I'm not optimistic," Arum said in ESPN.com. "I think Mayweather will look for a way not to do the fight.”
Arum, chief of Top Rank promotions, is sensing that Mayweather will again use the drug-testing issue as his trump card to avoid the Pacquiao bout.
Arum, however, said that it is already a non-issue.
"Manny has taken the position that he would agree to unlimited testing," Arum said. "It is a non-[expletive] issue."
But the looming question is which agency will handle the testing?
Mayweather is being tested by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).
Arum, on the other hand, said that the test would have to be done under the overall umbrella of the designated state commission.
He said the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the umbrella agency over USADA, would handle Pacquiao's testing in the Philippines.
"The testing would have to be done by WADA, which means when Manny trains in the Philippines, whoever they use in Asia to do the testing would do it," Arum said.
"When Manny is training in the United States, they would use USADA. WADA gets the agency to supervise the testing in the Philippines,” he added. "But the point is, it all has to be done under the overall authority of the boxing commission wherever you have the fight."
Pacquiao usually holds half of his camp in the Philippines then spends the rest of his training period in California, US.
But Arum believes Mayweather will find another excuse in all of these.
“I smell the initial drum beat of 'You're not allowed to train in the Philippines' because of [who oversees] the testing. Once Mayweather says that, he can go [expletive] himself. Then it becomes a major political issue when he says Manny can't train in his home country,” said Arum
“Besides, nobody would subject themselves to that type of restriction."
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