By Rick Reeno

Sources close to the situation have advised BoxingScene.com that Top Rank plans to move forward with Manny Pacquiao vs. Yuri Foreman. Foreman will replace Floyd Mayweather Jr. as Pacquiao's opponent for March. Top Rank, who promote both fighters, are looking to make the event in Las Vegas with March 20 being mentioned as the likely date.

Late Wednesday night, BoxingScene's Ronnie Nathanielsz broke the news regarding Mayweather-Pacquiao being ruled out after Mayweather refused to accept Pacquiao's counter-offer regarding the cut-off date for the random blood tests.  The two sides tried everything to make the happen, including a mediation on Tuesday that lasted nine hours in California. In the end, Pacquiao was willing to take random blood tests until 24-days before the fight [down from his earlier demand of 30]. Mayweather was looking for a much shorter window of time.

Pacquiao will try to capture division title number 8 when he moves up to junior middleweight to challenge Foreman for the WBA title. This fight will be much tougher than most people think.