Mayweather: All roads lead to me

The Maybach was stretched across three parking spots in front of the gym door, because, well, that's how the boss rolls.

Inside the sweltering gym, the group of several dozen people certainly understood Floyd Mayweather Jr. was in charge. If anyone needed a reminder, Mayweather kept an eye on the door as he got his hands wrapped to make sure the crowd was to his liking.

That meant admittance for a few late hangers-on. It also meant some had overstayed their welcome.

"No, no, you gotta go," he told a photographer for a Filipino news service as two hulking security types moved in to make sure his wishes were met.

The photographer was a reminder of a fighter Mayweather tries not to think about. Not now, anyway, as he prepares for a welterweight title fight Sept. 17 against Victor Ortiz at the MGM Grand Garden.

Manny Pacquiao will have to wait. And, unfortunately for boxing fans, it could be a long wait.

"When it's all said and done, all roads lead to Floyd Mayweather," Mayweather said.

It's a road that hasn't been traveled much lately. Mayweather hasn't fought since beating Shane Mosley 16 months ago and has only fought three times since beating Oscar De La Hoya four years ago to become a pay-per-view attraction.

He says he's returning to the ring because he got excited watching Ortiz beat Andre Berto in his last fight. But he wasn't going to fight Ortiz unless he agreed to take blood tests to make sure he wasn't doping.

That's a rule Mayweather says he now lives by. And, unless Pacquiao agrees to the testing, he says there will be no megafight between the two.

"I'm not ducking or dodging or hiding from no opponent," Mayweather said. "All I'm saying is if you're the best, take the test. That's all I ask and we can make the fight happen."

Mayweather was careful not to accuse Pacquiao of using something to get stronger, perhaps mindful that the Filipino sensation is suing him for defamation for allegedly making repeated statements that he thought Pacquiao was taking performance-enhancing drugs. Indeed, he portrays his call for random testing as his way of cleaning up the sport of boxing.

Pacquiao, of course, sees it differently. He believes Mayweather is trying to impose his will on him and doesn't want any blood tests too close to a fight.

So Mayweather is fighting Ortiz. Pacquiao will be on a tour this week promoting his November fight with Juan Manuel Marquez.

And, once again, a sport in dire need of a boost once again won't get the fight all boxing fans want.

That didn't seem to concern Mayweather as he got his hands wrapped before a workout Friday in a gym that seemed even hotter than the 108 degrees it was outside. He believes that he -- not Pacquiao -- is still the biggest name in boxing, and he's determined to play out his career on his own terms.

So far that's made him a rich man. He's been able to sell himself as the fighter everyone loves to hate, making millions on big pay-per-view fights. He's the star attraction on HBO's "24/7," where last week the last 6 minutes of the episode featured Mayweather and his father screaming at each other.

The bad boy image isn't just for TV. Mayweather is involved in a half-dozen different court cases, one of which could send him to prison for felony domestic assault. In a separate civil lawsuit, two men claim he orchestrated a shooting attack on them outside a Las Vegas skating rink two years ago.

"I don't worry about that stuff," Mayweather said. "It's going to be what it's going to be."

What he's worried about right now is getting himself ready to fight Ortiz, who so impressed Mayweather in his fight with Berto that he reached out to make him his next opponent. Before that bout, Ortiz was best known for quitting in a fight he was losing, and his relative inexperience also should play into Mayweather's hands.

Assuming Mayweather wins, he will be 42-0 and a champion once again at 147 pounds. But he still will be dogged by questions about the quality of his opponents, his relative inactivity, and what seems to be an aversion to fighting Pacquiao.

By now, even the most optimistic boxing fans are beginning to believe the Pacquiao fight will never happen. To Mayweather, it doesn't really matter because he really believes what he says -- that all roads in boxing lead through him.

So he'll continue to make must-watch TV. He'll fight who he wants, when he wants.

Money Mayweather will keep making boxing pay.

Tim Dahlberg is a Las Vegas-based national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberrg@ap.org or http://twitter.com/timdahlberg.