Floyd Mayweather's next fight: 'Money' wants Manny Pacquiao but says Bob Arum is in the way

Stop me if you've heard this one before.

Floyd Mayweather drove his career fighting record as a professional to 43-0 with his unanimous decision victory over Miguel Cotto on HBO pay-per-view (PPV) last night (Sat., May 5, 2012) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

It was your typical performance from "Money May." He ran into some trouble in the middle rounds but he was good early and all but untouchable late, dancing around the ring in the final round to put an exclamation mark on his victory.

The fight, quite frankly, left fans wondering if there's anyone out there who can defeat Mayweather. Cotto attempt has been described as "brilliant" and he lost on scores of 117-111, 117-111, and 118-110.

Naturally, the first name to come to mind is Manny Pacquiao, the only other boxer who can draw at the box office as good as Mayweather. Together they are, unquestionably, the two biggest stars in combat sports. We've wanted to see them square off for what's felt like forever now. So why haven't we been given what we want?

Mayweather now claims he's ready to make the fight and give the fans what they want to see because he is, above all, an entertainer. There are just two things getting in the way.

The first: drug testing.

"I want to fight Pacquiao but he needs to take the tests before we make that fight," Mayweather was quoted as saying. This is nothing new and, in fact, has been a sticking point for some time. Accusations of steroid use have been bandied about and there's only one way to prove otherwise.

Secondly, as Mayweather tells ESPN, Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum, is getting in the way.

"Bob Arum is in the way of Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. So that's why the fight can't happen. I do want to give the fans that fight."

Again, nothing new here.

Both Mayweather and Pacqiao have said time and again that they're ready to make the fight. But as soon as talks seem to take a turn and get serious, something comes up to get in the way. Maybe it's drug testing, maybe it's Arum, and maybe everyone is ducking everyone else.

Who knows anymore.

The one thing we do know is all this talk will have to wait until both men satisfy the tests they have in front of them. Pacquiao is booked to throws hands against Timothy Bradley on June 9 in Las Vegas and Mayweather has a 90-day jail sentence that will start on June 1.

So let's reconvene after that and see where we're at. Chances are, we'll be right back where we started.

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