Franchise Thoughts: Call Me Crazy, But I Still Think Mayweather-Pacquiao Is Going to Happen

Well, this was an unpleasant Christmas present.

Like most of you, I've been following the drama surrounding the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight and the falling out between the two sides regarding drug testing. Like some of you, I assumed the rift would be solved through negotiation and we'd still be watching the bout everyone wants to see on March 13.

Now I think it's seriously time to revisit that line of thinking. When Bob Arum is talking about alternatives for March - and color me surprised that Paulie Malignaggi is at the top of the list - things are definitely looking a little grim.

I haven't really weighed in on the drug testing and steroid issue, mostly because of the holidays. It's interesting because it's not clear whether Mayweather's testing demands are gamesmanship, a true suspicion that Manny is on something, or (most likely) a little of both.

Likewise, it's equally hard to know whether Pacquiao has something to hide or is just playing his own game of hardball. Boxing fans and members of the mainstream sports media, just getting back into boxing for the first time since Mike Tyson's prime, have taken just about every point on the range of opinions.

Some have even tried to have it both ways. I'm talking about Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports, whose most recent column says Floyd's request is ridiculous but Manny should agree to it anyway. Say what?

I think Wetzel is making the same mistake many sports writers make and assuming that the spectre of steroids will haunt Pacquiao if he doesn't agree, when the truth is most fans really don't care that much. If he tested positive, sure. But simply the suggestion that he might be juicing because he refused to cave to Money's demands? I think not.

In the end, the whole thing doesn't interest me as much as whether or not Pacquiao and Mayweather are eventually going to fight, and I think they still will. It probably won't happen in March as originally planned, but there's simply too much money involved and too much interest from the general public for it not to happen.

Interestingly, when we ran a poll asking when Mayweather-Pacquiao would take place a few weeks back, the easy winner was the second half of 2010. Our readers are pretty slick, because I could easily see that happening now.

So Pac Man will fight Paulie or Yuri Foreman or whoever, and Mayweather may need a stay-busy fight as well. When both fighters make good but not great money from those matches, they will find their way back to the negotiating table and make it happen for the fall.

Unless one of them loses a tune-up fight (ahem, Roy Jones!) or gets injured in the interim, you can take that to the bank.

Posted by The Franchise