Pacquiao can't escape talk about Mayweather

Manny Pacquiao spent about two minutes Friday discussing a guy he will fight next month - and nearly 45 minutes discussing a guy he might never fight at all.

The conference call was supposed to be about promoting Pacquiao's welterweight title defense against Joshua Clottey on March 13 at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, and he, his trainer, Freddie Roach, and his promoter, Bob Arum, devoted an appropriate amount of lip service to the attributes of Clottey, a tough opponent who has lost, albeit narrowly, the two biggest fights of his career.

"I'm not underestimating Josh Clottey," Pacquiao said from his Las Vegas training camp. "I know he is taller and bigger than me."

But clearly, he has not gotten under Pacquiao's skin as has unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr., who despite being nowhere in the room or in Pacquiao's immediate plans, certainly was the chief topic of conversation.

Back in January, a proposed Pacquiao-Mayweather showdown, expected to be among the most lucrative boxing matches of all time and a potential $40 million payday for each fighter, collapsed in acrimony when Mayweather's camp demanded Pacquiao submit to random blood testing for steroids up to the week of the fight.

An angry Pacquiao refused - in fact, he filed a defamation lawsuit against Mayweather and his advisers that is still pending - and the megafight evaporated, replaced by Pacquiao-Clottey next month and a Mayweather-Shane Mosley bout on May 1.

And to hear Pacquiao, Roach and Arum tell it Friday, the superfight with Mayweather may never come back. Pacquiao dangled the possibility that he may retire after the Clottey fight - he is running for Congress in his native Philippines in May - or that, despite the fabulous payday a Mayweather fight would provide, he might just explore "other options" instead.

SEE PHOTOSManny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto

"It's hard to say what I am going to do just yet," Pacquiao said.

Typically, Arum took the hardest line. When asked if he would really walk away from a fight that might generate as much as $100 million to the promotion, he insisted, "Absolutely. No fighter of mine is going to get bullied by another fighter trying to dictate the rules. Mayweather against Manny is no contest. Manny will wipe the ring with him. But it will only happen if the Mayweather side agrees to abide by the commission's rules."

Pacquiao's response was more tempered but no less adamant. "I'm OK if I never fight him," he said. "I don't need him. People already know my accomplishments in boxing."

They are considerable, especially during the past 18 months, a period in which Pacquiao wiped out in succession David Diaz, a lightweight champion; Oscar De La Hoya, a champ in five weight classes; Ricky Hatton, a brawling welterweight; and Miguel Cotto, considered for a time the world's best welterweight.

Pacquiao's rapid ascension in weight and stature has raised eyebrows in some circles, and prompted Mayweather's camp, notably the fighter's father, Floyd Sr., to accuse Pacquiao of using performance-enhancing drugs.

Like all fighters who compete in Nevada, Pacquiao took and passed post-fight urine tests after each of those bouts. Mayweather's demand for blood testing would fall outside the realm of the Nevada State Athletic Commission's jurisdiction, although it would be implemented if both sides agreed upon it.

"This is not a topic for negotiation, it's a matter for the commission to decide," Arum said. "It's not something for amateurs to start talking about and making demands. Then, you have chaos."

Instead, Arum has Texas, where the law does not require fighters to be tested for steroids, although, Arum said, the fighters would be subject to testing by the WBO, which is sanctioning the Clottey bout.

According to camp insiders, Pacquiao is privately incensed at Mayweather for the steroid allegations and may use his animosity as one of the reasons to retire without having what would certainly be the biggest fight of his career.

"I'm disappointed that Floyd is saying those things about me," is as far as he would go publicly. "He is talking a lot of trash talk and that is his style. That is not good for anybody."