Freddie Roach sat down to speak with ESPN's Jim Rome yesterday. As one would expect, he spoke in detail on the reasons for Manny Pacquiao's refusal to submit to random Olympic-style blood testing, Mayweather's supposed reason for requesting the tests, and what he feels the future holds.
When asked why Pacquiao was so adamantly opposed to doing something Mayweather was willing to submit to, Roach responded by saying, "The Olympic-style drug testing, they couldn't guarantee they were not going to do it the day before the fight."
Roach, however, wasn't asked to elaborate on how being tested the day before the fight would have been a moot point had they agreed to stop testing 24 days out, 14 days out, or some compromise in between.
Rome also failed to explore the logic in Pacquiao's history with feeling weak when giving blood just days before his fight with Erik Morales. It is well known that while struggling to make weight, Pacquiao's blood sample taken for his first fight with Morales was lost, forcing him to give more blood only two days prior to the fight. Pacquiao, unable to eat or drink in order to make weight, was left drained and weakened for the Morales fight, thus explaining why he was beaten.
As a welterweight, Pacquiao still struggles to reach the weigh limit he can't seem to hit the full 147-pound maximum. It was well documented that he ate two meals on the day of the weigh-in before the Clottey fight. In his fight with Joshua Clottey, he reportedly weighed 142 as he woke up. After breakfast and lunch, he tipped the scales at 145 ¾. Pacquiao, while under the same "two meals before weigh-in" plan, weighed 144 for his fight with Miguel Cotto. Should Pacquiao have to give blood the day before the fight, it would seem that he would have ample time to re-fuel himself in time for the fight.
Roach also spoke on exactly how Pacquiao is affected when he has blood drawn. "He (Pacquiao) just feels like when he gives blood, it's in his head that it affects him for like 3 days. And then he starts feeling better after that. He's like a little bit of a hypochondriac."
Roach and Pacquiao's biggest objection to having blood drawn 14 days before the fight is they feel that Pacquiao is weakened for two to three days, and Roach loses him for sparring during those days. If he and Mayweather had compromised and come to, for example, a 19-day cutoff for random blood testing, by using simple logic, one could see how easily Pacquiao would be able to get over the weakening effects of having blood drawn.
Roach also gave his thoughts on why Mayweather asked Manny to submit to such rigorous blood testing procedures, and surprisingly it wasn't what most would think. "The thing is, Mayweather's a good fighter and I just believe that he came up with these excuses and so forth because he wasn't ready for Pacquiao yet. He had 2 years off and he only had one fight in 2 years. I think he needed more time. He's got another fight coming up, of course, and after that all the rust will be gone if he beats Mosley."
Jim Rome asked the million dollar question: "So you think that Mayweather will come off that demand and blood testing will not be a part of this?" To which Roach replied, "Again, let the commission do their job and we're not gonna let Mayweather run the show, for sure, because that's like giving the first 2 rounds away. Why would I let anybody give him that? The next thing he'll be saying, 'let's fight in 16-ounce gloves', or '2-minute rounds'. We're gonna go with what the commission says. And the thing is, I'm sure there's gonna be a trade-off between Manny dropping the lawsuit and him dropping the blood tests."
There you have it. Should Mayweather do what we all expect and bedazzle Mosley for a 12-round decision, the talks for a fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao should heat up again in the fall, maybe late summer. Let's hope they end better this time around.