LAS Vegas, Nevada?World boxing champion Manny Pacquiao is fighting mad and has taken on Floyd Mayweather Jr. in court even as a potential blockbuster bout between them is on the ropes.
The 31-year-old Filipino hero filed a lawsuit in federal court in Las Vegas on Wednesday alleging that Mayweather and others defamed him by falsely saying that he used performance-enhancing drugs.
?Calling a professional athlete a cheater is the most serious charge one can make, and in today?s world, accusing an athlete of using performance-enhancing drugs?however baseless and lacking in evidence?is toxic,? the lawsuit says.
The suit seeks damages in excess of $75,000 plus punitive damages, and names the American boxer, his father Floyd Mayweather Sr. and uncle Roger Mayweather as defendants. Oscar De La Hoya and Richard Schaefer, who operate Golden Boy Promotions and are promoting Mayweather, are also named as having ?stated publicly that Pacquiao has used and is using performance-enhancing drugs, including steroids.?
Pacquiao?s lawyer, Daniel Petrocelli, said the $75,000 figure was ?simply the minimum that one has to allege in order to sue in federal court.?
?The damages in this case for Pacquiao?s reputation are in the tens of millions of dollars, not including punitive damages,? Petrocelli said.

?False, reckless, malicious?

The lawsuit cites several interviews given by the Mayweather camp, including the American boxer?s comment in a radio interview in October that Pacquiao?s physical development was different ?cause we know the Philippines got the best enhancing drugs.?
Also quoted in the suit were Mayweather?s remarks published in the British newspaper The Guardian, in which he said he had ?great doubt as to the level of fairness I would be facing in the ring? on March 13.
Speaking with Reuters, Petrocelli said: ?Mr. Pacquiao simply could not allow these false, reckless and malicious statements to go unanswered.
?He had no choice but to file this lawsuit to protect his good name and reputation which has been earned after years and years of hard work.
?Whether or not the fight goes forward, whoever he fights next, he?s not going to sit by and let people publicly accuse him of being a cheater. There is absolutely no basis for such statements to be made about him.?

Blood tests

Pacquiao, who has never tested positive for drugs, was angered by the Mayweather camp?s insistence on doping control blood tests in the buildup to their welterweight showdown on March 13.
Mayweather had said the blood tests?which could detect substances not found by urine tests?were vital to ensure a fair fight, although blood tests are not routinely used in boxing.
Pacquiao had said he feared having blood drawn less than 30 days before the fight would ?weaken? him.
The Filipino boxer, who has supplanted Mayweather in the estimation of many as boxing?s best pound-for-pound fighter, has earned titles in seven weight classes.
Their fight could bring each as much as $40 million, and it had appeared to be virtually set after squabbles were settled over issues including the division of the purse and the type of gloves to be used.
But the dope test procedures have proved to be a sticking point.
The Los Angeles Times reported on Wednesday that Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum was preparing to open negotiations with World Boxing Association super welterweight champion Yuri Foreman as talks with Mayweather faltered.
Contacted by the newspaper while on vacation in Mexico, Arum sounded pessimistic that the Pacquiao-Mayweather bout would happen on March 13.
?This is only my opinion, but I don?t see the fight happening now,? Arum said. ?Positions are hardening ... Manny?s fit to be tied. He?s very angry.?
Arum acknowledged there could still be a breakthrough, but said: ?It might be best to visit this fight later in 2010.?

It was last week when Pacquiao announced that he had run out of patience.

Hard work, hard work

On his website (www.mpboxing.com), he said: ?Enough is enough.
?These people, Mayweather Sr., Jr. and Golden Boy Promotions, think it is a joke and a right to accuse someone wrongly of using steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs.
?I maintain and assure everyone that I have not used any form or kind of steroids and that my way to the top is a result of hard work, hard work, hard work and a lot of blood spilled from my past battles in the ring, not outside of it.
?I have no idea what steroids look like, and my fear in God has kept me safe and victorious through all these years.? Reports from AFP, Reuters