Pictured: Manny Pacquiao carries the flag of the Philippines at the 2008 Olympic Games.

It’s tough to look at the above picture: Manny Pacquiao leading a group of athletes, who unlike himself, were willing to submit to Olympic-style drug testing.

Last week, talks finally appeared to break down for good for Manny Pacquiao’s proposed bout with Floyd Mayweather Jr., with the “sticking point” of Olympic-style blood testing finally leaving the two parties unable to reach an agreement. It’s a bad blow for the sport, which seemed to finally accumulating momentum for the first time in ages, to lose the climactic bout which we had been leading up towards.

It’s particularly a blow to a guy like me.

I’m really gutted — because as much as I’m not fan of Floyd Jr, his classless interviews and unprofessional antics — I have to sadly place blame at the feet of Manny Pacquiao for this “bloody mess.”

Why? Simple: forget anyone’s intentions. I’d like to see the proposed Olympic style testing for all bouts. Many illegal substances, including HGH and blood doping, can’t be detected by the “usual” NSAC testing policies. Travis Tygart of the US Anti-Doping Agency is interviewed by Eddie Goldman here to go into greater detail about the matter. The need for random testing is emphasized — as this USA Today report describes, the testing is not effective if the athlete can schedule it him or herself. Moreover, the tiny amount of blood involved has no effect on performance.

Remember all the respect Miguel Angel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao gave each other before and after their bout last year? A few weeks ago, Miguel Cotto described being shocked by Manny’s refusal to go along with Olympic-style testing at FightNews.com:

“I am in complete awe with Manny’s reaction to this matter. He has always been a great athlete and a gentleman. Why in the world would he require restrictions or conditions for the tests? It is a golden opportunity for him to dissipate all worldwide rumors surrounding his figure and the use of enhancement drugs. His refusal to commit to the tests without conditions raises questions. Olympic type drug testing is the most efficient tool for the sport to secure fair play. My recommendation to all boxing authorities in the world is to implement it across the board. I would agree to it without hesitation or reservations. It is the only way to ensure that the outcome of a bout is the strict result of conditioning and ability. To magnify your talent with drugs is repulsive.”

That was a few weeks ago. Sadly, condolences are in order now regarding the death of Cotto’s father Don Miguel Cotto last weekend. I’ll also give credit where it’s due and mention that Manny Pacquiao offers a very classy statement here on that subject. There he lauds the obvious love which he saw on HBO 24/7 between Cotto and his father:

“Your father was a man that I both admired and had a lot of respect for. Thank you for opening up your lives for us all to watch and learn from. It was my honor to get to know your father. It was my honor to watch and learn about how a father-son relationship should be. God Bless you Miguel, from me and my family to yours.”

It’s actually an interesting contrast between the two, Cotto and Pacquiao — and their blood connections.

Pacquiao revealed on the same HBO 24/7 show that it was more than 20 years ago when he began his ring career for a purse of pennies, with makeshift equipment, in a bout between cockfights. That day, in one of the world’s poorest countries in the Philippines — in fact, on perhaps its poorest island of Mindanao — a young child began to ply a trade that would eventually make him his country’s greatest star and greatest financial success.

Pacquaio would go from makeshift events like that one, to an eventual official professional debut in Occidental Mindoro at age 16 in 1995. It’s a far cry from the beginnings of a Floyd Mayweather Jr or a Miguel Cotto; who would learn to box from their fathers and uncles, accumualate hundreds of sanctioned amatuer bouts, and eventually represent their countries in Olympic competition — before turning professional in featured bouts on “Friday Night Fights.”

In fact, according to media reports like this one from Robbie Panglinan, Pacquiao was estranged from his father throughout his career. Rosalio Pacquiao in fact attended one of his son’s fights for the first time last year. He cannot claim a similar credit as the Cottos or Mayweathers for Manny’s development — and neither can the world of amatuer and Olympic boxing. Its tight reign on a fighter’s weight management, its strict drug testing, and its sometimes puzzling scoring are all probably as foreign to Pacquiao as they are to many of his fans, who are reacting with horror to Mayweather’s demand, admittedly unprecedented, for Olympic-style drug testing in a pro bout.

But I see it differently. It’s the right thing to do.

Perhaps its unfair to expect Pacquiao to step out of his comfort zone, shed a tablespoon of blood, and take the tests as Mayweather demands — giving boxing fans what we want. But life isn’t always fair, and that shouldn’t keep you from doing the right thing. It’s hard to imagine, given his upbringing, that Manny Pacquiao hasn’t already learned that.