By Rick Reeno

We all knew the negotiations to finalize Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Manny Pacquiao would be a very difficult process. Nobody could have ever predicted the scenario of events that played out in the last few days. Earlier in the year, when Mayweather announced his return to the sport, it didn't take a genius to figure out the end-result of his comeback - a big-money showdown with Pacquiao.

The obvious obstacle that everyone focused on was the money. Before the negotiations even began, both sides were making their case for a bigger piece of the financial pie. In the end, it wasn't money, or weight, or the gloves, or the venue location. What may become the sole reason behind the collapse of this proposed March fight is Mayweather's position for Pacquiao to subject himself to random Olympic-style drug tests.

Golden Boy and Mayweather are staying firm on their position. They wants both fighters to get tested in "random" fashion. But they are more concerned about the random test being conducted within the 30-day window before the fight. Top Rank and Pacquiao are done fighting on this issue. They want the Nevada State Athletic Commission to make a ruling during a mid-January meeting.

If Nevada orders Pacquiao to take additional tests, blood or urine - Arum has promised to have his fighter follow the terms of that ruling. Golden Boy and Mayweather have rejected Arum's proposal. They are not going to leave this issue in the hands of the Nevada Commission. From their viewpoint, the Nevada Commission could simply rule out additional tests. And they likely will. Keith Kizer, head of the NSAC, believes Nevada's urine tests are more than adequate enough to pick up any illegal substances in a fighter's system. Golden Boy/Mayweather want both fighters to take blood tests, which Nevada does not mandate. And simple blood tests will not do. They want random blood tests during the 30-day period leading up to the fight.

And that is only half the story.

Pacquiao announced that he plans to file a defamation suit against Golden Boy, Mayweather and Floyd's father, Floyd Mayweather Sr.

During several interviews, Mayweather Sr. accused Pacquiao of taking performance enhancing drugs. Golden Boy president Oscar De La Hoya has made several published statements that "hinted" at Pacquiao possibly using performance enhancing drugs. He compared Pacquiao's punching to Shane Mosley and Fernando Vargas. Mosley, while never testing positive, admitted to inadvertently taking performance enhancing drugs for his rematch with De La Hoya. Vargas tested positive for steroids in the aftermath of his loss to De La Hoya.

A few days ago, De La Hoya said "I’m saying to myself, Wow. Those Mosley punches, those Vargas punches and those Pacquiao punches all felt the same."

But when Pacquiao stopped De La Hoya a year ago in Las Vegas, Oscar said - "luckily he doesn’t hit hard. Obviously, if he would’ve hit hard, he would have knocked me out with no problem."

De La Hoya even baited and put pressure on Pacquiao to take the tests by stating "we can paint ourselves as the cleanest sport by doing this test. Why don’t you want to do it? C’mon. It’s only a little bit of blood. If you have nothing to hide, then do the test."

The entire situation has made Top Rank re-think their settlement terms with Golden Boy over the promotional rights to Pacquiao.

On September 18, 2006, Pacquiao arrived in Los Angeles and met with Oscar De La Hoya at Los Angeles International Airport. During a meeting that took place in the back of a limo, De La Hoya signed Pacquiao to a promotional agreement and handed him a suitcase of money. De La Hoya denies personally handing Pacquiao that suitcase. Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach gave sworn testimony that De La Hoya personally handed over the case to Manny.

On November 18, 2006, during the post-fight press conference to Pacquiao-Morales III, Pacquiao announced that he signed a promotional agreement with Top Rank and returned his Golden Boy signing bonus to De La Hoya.A legal battle quickly took shape over which company truly had a valid promotional contract with Pacquiao. Golden Boy was confident their agreement was concrete. Top Rank took the position that Pacquiao was taken advantage of and pressured into signing the Golden Boy deal.

On June 29, 2007, both promotional companies announced a settlement after two weeks of court-ordered mediation. Top Rank became the promoter of record for Pacquiao. While the terms of the settlement are confidential, BoxingScene.com was made to understand from a source with knowledge of the settlement - that Golden Boy receives a minor percentage when Pacquiao fights. There was also an agreement on the co-promotional split when Pacquiao faces a Golden Boy promoted fighter.

Fast-forward to the final week of 2009. BoxingScene.com was informed that Top Rank is planning their own legal battle to eliminate Golden Boy's financial stake in Pacquiao. In the opinion of Top Rank, there was a serious conflict of interest when Golden Boy made a hard-line demand for Pacquiao to take random Olympic-style drug tests. There is the issue of De La Hoya's comments on his personal blog.

Top Rank has a strong case.

The entire situation has created a cloud of doubt that floats above the head of Pacquiao and his career. Even if both sides agree to abandon the tests, Pacquiao's career has suffered a crack. The severity of the crack is unknown but the crack is there and very real.

Regardless of whatever happens, or if the fight moves forward, Pacquiao has been affected in one way or another.

A. If Pacquiao does not agree to Mayweather's demand for Olympic-style drug testing, there is going to be a large number of people who will automatically say "Pacquiao was afraid of the tests because he was taking illegal substances."

B. If Pacquiao and Mayweather abandon the clause for Olympic-style drug testing, and Pacquiao wins, a large number of people will automatically say "Pacquiao beat Mayweather with the help of performance enhancing drugs."

C. If Pacquiao agrees to take the tests, comes up clean and then loses to Mayweather, a large number of people will automatically say "Pacquiao was unable to take his performance enhancing drugs and look what happened."

D. Even if Pacquiao took the tests, came up clean, and beat Mayweather - his performance in victory will dissected in every possible way because of the entire drug test dispute. If he doesn't throw as many punches there will be questions. If he doesn't win by knockout there will be questions. If he wins a close fight there will be questions. The mindset of "did Pacquiao have that extra edge" will play a strong role; just as they did after Shane Mosley admitted to inadvertently taking performance enhancing drugs and the public began to dissect his physical appearance, his ability to fight, his in-ring performances, etc. Of course, this means nothing unless the tests are random. If they are scheduled tests, then people will claim Manny found loopholes to beat the tests.

In the last week, I've received a lot of calls from people within the boxing industry, and casual fans of the sport, and one of the first questions to roll out of their mouths - "do you think Manny Pacquiao is taking steroids?"

And I replied - "No, I don't."