LAS VEGAS — Promoter Bob Arum delivered what he said would be his last proposal Sunday to salvage the fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr., which has been on life support over a blood-testing dispute.
Under Arum’s proposal, the Nevada Athletic Commission would have the final say in how much testing there would be for the fight and when it would take place. Preparations for the fight would go forward and there would be three blood tests — none within 30 days of the fight — unless the commission decided otherwise at a mid-January meeting.
“We will go along with what the Nevada commission decides,” Arum said. “We want this fight to go forward.”
Arum said Pacquiao’s side would go no further than the proposal, and that he will begin talks today for the March 13 date on which the fight was supposed to take place.
The director of the Nevada commission and Mayweather’s representatives did not return phone calls Sunday.
All other issues were earlier resolved, but the nasty dispute over attempts by Mayweather’s camp to introduce stringent blood testing to pro boxing for the first time make it increasingly unlikely the fight will happen.
Mayweather’s representatives backed off their insistence on using the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency over the weekend, but they continued to insist on random blood and urine tests with a cutoff date mutually agreeable to both sides.
Pacquiao’s camp seemed willing to agree to that up until the last few days, when the conversation turned from testing to slander lawsuits against those alleging that Pacquiao used performance-enhancing drugs to move up in weight to win titles in seven weight classes.
