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Boxing promoter Bob Arum has told Floyd Mayweather Jr that the ball is in his court to deliver the eagerly-awaited mega-fight with pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao.
Talks between Mayweather Jr and Pacquiao about a March showdown broke down in 2009 when the Mayweather camp insisted on anti-doping, pre-fight blood testing for both fighters, something Arum's star fighter refused on the grounds that the procedure would adversely affect the Filipino.
Mayweather claimed Pacquiao's refusal meant the multi-weight champion, who had assumed his mantle as best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet following his short-lived retirement, had something to hide.
Yet speaking at Yankee Stadium after another Top Rank mainstay Miguel Cotto won the WBA light-middleweight title from stablemate Yuri Foreman, Arum said Pacquiao had agreed to a testing schedule.
"I'm telling you now, I've had long conversations with him, Manny Pacquiao's first goal is to get Mayweather in the ring and this whole drug-testing nonsense - I think it was nonsense, but Manny has now agreed," Arum said.
"He's agreed, so now that's not an issue. So now the ball's in Mayweather's court and if Mayweather doesn't fight him, that's Mayweather's decision and he has every right to make that decision.
"If I was Mayweather I wouldn't want to fight Pacquiao either."
Arum added that Las Vegas would be the favourite to stage any Mayweather-Pacquiao showdown.
"I live there and I've no problem with the fight being in Vegas, and I know Manny has no problem either," he said.
"There are things that I know that you don't about why Las Vegas will go to the last mile to get that fight and I would think that Las Vegas has to be the front runner."
Mayweather, who also lives in Las Vegas, was last in action on May 1 when he put on a clinic to defeat Shane Mosley by unanimous decision at the city's MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Pacquiao, who defeated Joshua Clottey on March 13 at Cowboys Stadium in Texas in the date and venue that had been set aside for his clash with Mayweather, was last in Las Vegas in November, when he stopped Cotto in the 12th and final round of a one-sided clash, also at the MGM Grand.
It was Cotto's second heavy defeat in 18 months following a loss to Antonio Margarito.
Arum, though, declared that the Puerto Rican, who in stopping Foreman in the ninth round became a three-weight, four-time world champion, was back among the sport's very best competitors.
Asked what was next for Cotto, Arum placed him alongside Mayweather, Pacquiao and Margarito, who has completed his 12-month ban imposed in California for wearing illegal wraps before facing Shane Mosley in January 2009.
"We don't what's happening among the elite fighters," said Arum.
"Miguel now goes back to being an elite fighter and a lot of things will be decided if, for example, the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight comes together.
"When that piece of the puzzle is decided these are fighters out there that could make very attractive fights, like, for example, Margarito and Miguel.
"So, we'll see, there's no sense rushing in."
Talks between Mayweather Jr and Pacquiao about a March showdown broke down in 2009 when the Mayweather camp insisted on anti-doping, pre-fight blood testing for both fighters, something Arum's star fighter refused on the grounds that the procedure would adversely affect the Filipino.
Mayweather claimed Pacquiao's refusal meant the multi-weight champion, who had assumed his mantle as best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet following his short-lived retirement, had something to hide.
Yet speaking at Yankee Stadium after another Top Rank mainstay Miguel Cotto won the WBA light-middleweight title from stablemate Yuri Foreman, Arum said Pacquiao had agreed to a testing schedule.
"I'm telling you now, I've had long conversations with him, Manny Pacquiao's first goal is to get Mayweather in the ring and this whole drug-testing nonsense - I think it was nonsense, but Manny has now agreed," Arum said.
"He's agreed, so now that's not an issue. So now the ball's in Mayweather's court and if Mayweather doesn't fight him, that's Mayweather's decision and he has every right to make that decision.
"If I was Mayweather I wouldn't want to fight Pacquiao either."
Arum added that Las Vegas would be the favourite to stage any Mayweather-Pacquiao showdown.
"I live there and I've no problem with the fight being in Vegas, and I know Manny has no problem either," he said.
"There are things that I know that you don't about why Las Vegas will go to the last mile to get that fight and I would think that Las Vegas has to be the front runner."
Mayweather, who also lives in Las Vegas, was last in action on May 1 when he put on a clinic to defeat Shane Mosley by unanimous decision at the city's MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Pacquiao, who defeated Joshua Clottey on March 13 at Cowboys Stadium in Texas in the date and venue that had been set aside for his clash with Mayweather, was last in Las Vegas in November, when he stopped Cotto in the 12th and final round of a one-sided clash, also at the MGM Grand.
It was Cotto's second heavy defeat in 18 months following a loss to Antonio Margarito.
Arum, though, declared that the Puerto Rican, who in stopping Foreman in the ninth round became a three-weight, four-time world champion, was back among the sport's very best competitors.
Asked what was next for Cotto, Arum placed him alongside Mayweather, Pacquiao and Margarito, who has completed his 12-month ban imposed in California for wearing illegal wraps before facing Shane Mosley in January 2009.
"We don't what's happening among the elite fighters," said Arum.
"Miguel now goes back to being an elite fighter and a lot of things will be decided if, for example, the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight comes together.
"When that piece of the puzzle is decided these are fighters out there that could make very attractive fights, like, for example, Margarito and Miguel.
"So, we'll see, there's no sense rushing in."
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