Last Updated: Thu, 21 Jan 2010 10:54
Manny Pacquiao has revealed that he expects his eagerly-anticipated fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr to happen at some point.
The world welterweight champion was due to fight Mayweather on March 13 until the meeting was called off when the Filipino was unhappy about Mayweather's demands for random blood and urine sampling in the build-up to their bout.
Pacquiao has now been scheduled to fight Ghana's Joshua Clottey in Dallas as an alternative, but he is confident he will get the chance to face his main rival Mayweather, possibly later this year.
He said: "It will happen. I'm still hoping a fight with Mayweather will be pushed through, maybe by summer time."
On the drug-testing demands Pacquiao felt it showed him in a bad light.
He added: "I want to clear my name because I'm a very honest person. I'm very disappointed for what he accused me of. I'm clean. I'm not cheating. I'm a very honest fighter."
Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach is also certain the super fight will happen and feels Mayweather's blood sampling request was just a way of hyping up the showdown.
"I think it's going to happen," he said. "Maybe Mayweather is up to doing this to get more press, I don't know."