Floyd Mayweather Jr’s uncompromising stand on the drug-testing issue that is now threatening to scuttle the biggest fight of the century – although this millennium is barely over a decade old – may have started as a routine psychological war against Manny Pacquiao and his camp. 

But it has now dovetailed into a bitter legal dispute and acrimonious war between two of the best fighters in this era and, perhaps, beyond.

All this started from the conjured fear of his father that  the Filipino boxing hero is into performance enhancing drugs – PEDs as they call them – as the reason behind the latter’s phenomenal and successive destruction of boxing greats as he climbed up in weight and rose into boxing superstardom.

Floyd’s father and namesake Floyd Snr is not exactly your expert witness on PEDs unless you will count on his reported illicit drug trade conviction.

When Floyd Jr agreed to fight Manny Pacquiao with little contractual dispute, I, myself, believed it was too good to be true.  Until the drug-testing imbroglio became the focal point of Floyd’s harangue to unsettle Manny as a promotional gimmick.  Unfortunately, what looked like an innocent calculated move has now gone wayward – like a berserk and derailed three o’clock train.

Floyd’s camp has been known to harass opponents leading up to fight night. He is boxing’s bad guy and, by goodness, very good at it.

The reason boxing fans tolerate him is, as bad as he is, is because he is also an excellent boxer who has never lost a single bout on his way to being crowned the best pound for pound fighter until he retired two years ago.

That mantle has been passed to Manny Pacquiao, who earned the honor by knocking out bigger opponents thrown at him.

Both Manny and Floyd started their boxing careers as 106-pounder amateurs.

Floyd went to the Olympics while Manny cut short his amateur career to turn pro at 16 years old.

By the time Floyd turned pro in 1996, he was already a lightweight.

About the same time, Manny also made his pro debut, fighting as a 106-pound light flyweight.

Manny suffered two losses early in his career and another in a well-contested bout against Erik Morales in 2005.

Since that Morales loss, Manny has racked up 10 wins and a draw against the likes of Morales (twice by KO), Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Manuel Marquez (a split decision and a draw), Ricky Hatton, Oscar de La Hoya and, most recently, Miguel Angel Cotto.  By the way, eight of those 10 wins were KO victories.

Those are what separate Manny from Floyd. While Floyd was carefully picking his opponents late in his career to keep his immaculate record clean, Manny was fighting bigger and well established Hall of Fame-bound boxers thrown at him.

While Floyd relishes his bad guy image, Manny has maintained a composure that would never offend an opponent.

While Floyd uses his superb technical skill to defeat his opponents even if it means boring the fans to heavens, Manny generates so much excitement with his aggressive and relentless two-fisted attacks.

When Floyd answered the popular clamor for him to fight Manny, many welcomed the move as the clash between the current and former holder of boxing’s pound for pound tiara could become one of the all time great match ups in boxing – notwithstanding a potential blockbuster that could topple all box office as well as pay per view (PPV) records.

Both sides conceded major sticking points in the contract, ranging from size and makes of gloves to weight, venue and purse split.

All looked fine until Floyd made the unreasonable demand of having the drug testing done randomly and by his preferred testing agency – only!

When Manny refuses to balk, Floyd’s camp – including his designated promotional outfit Golden Boy Promotion – milked dry Manny’s alleged PED-enhanced and induced power and strength and put the Filipino boxer on the defensive.

Now, they have successfully cast cloud of doubts about Manny’s accomplishments.

Until Manny proves he is clean, that stigma of being a professional cheat will forever be etched along his memorable and phenomenal boxing career.

Manny was perfectly correct in suing Floyd and the others who are accusing him of using PEDs to enhance his boxing career.

The onus of proving he has been slandered lies on Manny of course but at the end of the day the Filipino boxing champ will submit himself to drug testing to prove his innocence.

Under the scrutiny and supervision of the court, proof of innocence could be devastating against Floyd and his camp.

Better that way than submit to the whims and dictates of the Mayweathers and their gang of haranguers where testing could be contaminated at worst and dispute over protocols won’t resolve the issue at best.

In the proper venue such as the courts of the Federal Government of the US, Floyd’s accusations will be tested.

When Manny comes out clean, Floyd’s tail will be curled like a frightful dog on the run.