Pacquiao

Manny Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, delivered this knee-buckling assessment for boxing fans already distraught by the failed Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. negotiations. "This could be our last fight," Roach said last week, as Pacquiao heads into the final days of training for his March 13 welterweight world title bout against Joshua Clottey at Cowboys Stadium outside Dallas. Roach's sobering speculation about boxing's biggest star is based on a chain of events that could occur.

The Grove shopping center became the unlikely battleground in the debate over gay marriage after it banned boxer Manny Pacquiao from the mall in response to an interview he gave in Los Angeles. The ban led to a day of dueling statements, denunciations and backtracking. Some news organizations erroneously quoted the boxing champion as saying gay men should "be put to death. " That prompted the management of the Grove to issue a terse statement Tuesday evening that Pacquiao was persona non grata at the L.A. shopping center despite a scheduled television interview with Extra, which regularly films at the popular outdoor mall next to the Original Farmer's Market at Third Street and Fairfax Avenue.

With a sellout MGM Grand Garden crowd of 16,262 -- including Jack Nicholson, Jay-Z, Adam Sandler, Mark Wahlberg, Denzel Washington and P. Diddy -- watching after paying a combined $8.8 million, the British throng supporting Ricky Hatton roared and sang support to their countryman as Tom Jones sang "God Save the Queen." Pacquiao was greeted less vocally by fewer fans waving Philippines flags, but his wife saluted him as their anthem played, clasping her hands together and looking upward.

Manny Pacquiao's skyrocketing popularity created chaos that no mere mortal could be expected to balance. Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 knockouts) appeared more human than ever in his last fight, however. As he prepares now for his next bout June 9 against Timothy Bradley, Pacquiao and his trainer acknowledge Everyman's frailty has been his most imposing contender. "All the distractions caught up to Manny in his last fight," Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach said Thursday of the boxer's narrow decision over Juan Manuel Marquez in November.

Manny Pacquiao is back in town. Boxing is like phases of the moon, and Pacquiao is in the training phase. There will be a fight, all right. But not the one the world wanted, nor Pacquiao and his trainer, Freddie Roach. "I wanted Mayweather bad, real bad," Roach says. "I'm not angry at Floyd," Pacquiao says. "I just feel disappointed in his allegations." It is a Monday afternoon at Roach's Wild Card Gym in Hollywood. The air is stale, the noise often deafening and the entire place decorum-challenged, unless you are into wrinkled 1972 boxing posters.

Boxing's tendency to inflame hostility, name-calling and old grudges in contract negotiations is threatening the biggest fight in the sport. Manny Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum, told The Times on Wednesday that he's treating the Filipino's verbally-agreed-upon mega-fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. on March 13 as if it's "dead," and added he's instructed his matchmaker to explore other possible fights for Pacquiao. Arum is angered that Mayweather's camp wants Pacquiao to submit to a random blood-testing protocol supervised by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. wants Manny Pacquiao to submit to Olympic-style drug tests, including a blood test within days of their tentatively scheduled March 13 bout, and failing to agree to these terms could threaten the fight, Mayweather's camp said Tuesday. Pacquiao has expressed reluctance to submit to a blood test within 30 days of the proposed world welterweight title fight, which will be staged at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. "As management for Floyd, we're insisting this Olympic-style, random [blood]

The official end of hope for a super-fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. came Sunday when Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum announced he had signed a deal to stage an alternate Pacquiao bout against Joshua Clottey on March 13 at Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Texas. Arum said Pacquiao will earn somewhere between $10 million and $20 million for the welterweight fight against Clottey (35-3), who lost a split decision to Miguel Cotto in his most recent fight in June. Cotto later suffered a 12th-round technical knockout loss to Pacquiao in November, as the Filipino star won his record seventh weight-division world title and probably clinched for the second straight time the honor of fighter of the year.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. is still pushing for a mega-fight with Manny Pacquiao, but key people around Pacquiao said Friday the Filipino star fighter's focus has shifted to a replacement foe, Joshua Clottey. "If you concede to whatever Mayweather wants, that's giving him an edge," Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach said Friday. "We're bigger than Mayweather. We don't need him. We don't work for him. "So, the way I feel now, we'll go fight Clottey, then we'll fight the winner of [Shane]

As a combined guarantee of at least $50 million vanishes from what was expected to be the most lucrative bout in boxing history, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao voiced their differences Thursday, a day after the fight was declared to be off by Pacquiao's promoter. Mayweather released a statement pointing to Pacquiao as the one holding up the planned March 13 mega-fight and declaring, "I am ready to fight and sign the contract. Manny needs to stop making excuses, step up and fight."

LAS VEGAS — At the end of a tough, long night, Floyd Mayweather Jr. was left staring at a June 1 jail sentence and a boxing landscape that he seems to believe cannot deliver another quality opponent. The unbeaten 35-year-old champion late Saturday said he's leaning "80-20" toward retirement. "If it was my last fight, I gave them a bang," Mayweather (43-0) said after his unanimous-decision (118-110, 117-111, 117-111) triumph over Puerto Rico's Miguel Cotto (37-3) at the MGM Grand.

LAS VEGAS — The two prime ribs of boxing, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, continue to create their sizzle separately. Their fight of the century, any century, seems to be going the way of the Edsel and the eight-track tape. Passage of time doesn't heal all, but it sure does dull things. It is Mayweather's time now. Boxing is nothing if not a huge attention grab, and Mayweather is in the center ring of the circus he so deeply loves. He will fight Miguel Cotto at the MGM Grand here May 5, and that correctly has the current spotlight.

LAS VEGAS -- Floyd Mayweather Jr. told The Times he is not among those who believe the long-awaited showdown against Manny Pacquiao is likely to happen in the fall. "No, I don't think it's going to happen," Mayweather said of a Pacquiao fight. "It's because of [Pacquiao promoter] Bob Arum. It's not my fault. " Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach, and even Mayweather's uncle and trainer, Roger Mayweather, have speculated recently that Mayweather and Pacquiao will fight in November, should Mayweather defeat Miguel Cotto (May 5)

Tired of being disappointed because there isn't a Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao fight? Miguel Cotto is here to try to slug out your frustrations. "I didn't care about hearing one more thing about that," Cotto said Thursday, appearing in Hollywood to promote his May 5 bout against the unbeaten Mayweather. "My next step is Mayweather. If people want to see that [Mayweather-Pacquiao] fight, they have to wait until I beat Mayweather. " Cotto (37-2, 30 knockouts), the World Boxing Assn.

Spend enough time around hard-core boxing followers, and their opinions begin taking the shape of gospel. Timothy Bradley is stronger and younger than Manny Pacquiao, the argument starts. Some say that Pacquiao was "exposed" as an older, less powerful fighter in his narrow November decision over Juan Manuel Marquez. And that Bradley, 28, can beat Pacquiao, 33, in their June 9 fight at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Wait, what? "It's a tough test, this is a young guy coming up to take on the established guy and being undefeated can make you highly resilient to losing," Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach said about Bradley during a Beverly Hills news conference Tuesday.

They served lunch Tuesday at a Manny Pacquiao news conference. That was quickly followed by some real food for thought. The official fanfare was for the announcement of Pacquiao's next fight, a June 9 Las Vegas matchup with Tim Bradley of Palm Springs. That was not news. Everybody who cares knows everything about Pacquiao the Top Rank Promotion machine is willing to make public. Its job is to hype and sell, and seldom has a promotional firm had more to work with than the likable, recently unbeatable boxing congressman from the Philippines.

Promoter Bob Arum arrived in the Philippines and expected to start face-to-face talks Wednesday with Manny Pacquiao to try to reach terms for a mega-fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. Despite reports Tuesday that Mayweather agreed to terms and that a Pacquiao fight was virtually set, Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach cautioned Wednesday that that idea was premature because the Filipino star hadn't reviewed any contract terms. Roach, in a telephone conversation from England, said, "Manny believes he should get a 60-40 [purse]

Timothy Bradley agreed in principle Thursday to fight Manny Pacquiao on June 9 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, fulfilling a lifetime ambition for the unbeaten, Cathedral City-based world junior-welterweight champion. "This is about being the No. 1 fighter in the world, and that's what my goal has been for as long as I can remember," Bradley said. Bradley declined to reveal terms of his agreement, which he said could be signed as early as Friday, but his guarantee is believed to be more than $5 million.

It wasn't just the words — "You're blowing it, son!" — that Sugar Ray Leonard heard as he peered into the wise, aged eyes of trainer Angelo Dundee more than 30 years ago. Leonard also caught the sincerity of the message, and with that the motivation necessary to score a remarkable 14th-round knockout of Thomas Hearns that enhanced his standing as an icon of boxing. Leonard, a Southland resident, is now beginning work on a film version of his recent autobiography. Dundee, who died Wednesday at 90, is best remembered for being the longtime trainer of Muhammad Ali and Leonard.