NEW YORK -- It seems Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao will be forever linked, regardless of whether they ever face each other in the ring.

The two have danced around the richest fight in boxing for several years, unable to come to terms. Meanwhile, their animosity has grown to the point that Pacquiao has a pending defamation lawsuit alleging Mayweather unfairly accused him of using performance-enhancing drugs.

So it's not surprising that Mayweather spent just as much time

answering questions about Pacquiao on Tuesday as he did about

Victor Ortiz, the welterweight champion whom he'll face in his next

fight on Sept. 17 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

"I've never said that Manny Pacquiao was taking steroids, I

never said he was taking enhancement drugs," said Mayweather, who

failed to turn up for a court-ordered deposition in Las Vegas

earlier this month involving the defamation suit.

"I want to fight the best they got out there, not just him, the

best they got out there," Mayweather said, "and if he's on the

list as one of the best guys, then absolutely."

Mayweather said he's willing to fight Pacquiao if there is

random blood and urine testing, which is more stringent than the

protocol used by most state athletic associations. Mayweather said

Pacquiao's team would only agree to blood and urine testing at

certain times.

"It's not just Pacquiao, it's sports, period," Mayweather

said. "If you look at sports in the Olympics, they're cheating.

Everyone is cheating. And I never once said Manny Pacquiao was

cheating, only thing I said was this: Me and any other opponent I

face must take the test."

Mayweather will be returning to the ring for the first time

since defeating Shane Mosley in May 2010, though the undefeated

former champion has made plenty of news since then.

Last Friday, 21-year-old Anthony Cliff filed a lawsuit accusing

Mayweather of ordering his bodyguards to attack the man outside the

Palms Casino Resort on March 27, 2010.

The lawsuit accuses Mayweather of assault and battery,

intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent hiring,

training, supervision and retention of employees.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. discussed his upcoming fight with Victor Ortiz -- and a possible future bout with Manny Pacquiao -- at a news conference Tuesday. Daniel Barry/Getty Images

Mayweather also faces felony charges stemming from a domestic

argument and misdemeanor harassment and battery charges in separate

cases.

"When you're young, black and rich, you go through things in

life," Mayweather said. "But I'm a strong individual. I can

survive through anything."

Mayweather's adviser, Leonard Ellerbe, declined to discuss the

litigation.

"We focus on the business part and the boxing part," Ellerbe

said. "We let the attorneys handle the legal stuff."

Mayweather and Ellerbe joined several hundred fans inside the

Hudson Theater in New York City to kick off a promotional tour for

the fight against Ortiz, who is coming off a career-defining

victory over Andre Berto that made him the WBC welterweight

champion.

Ortiz said he doesn't mind that people want to talk about

Pacquiao -- even if that person is Mayweather -- because he's staring

at the opportunity of a lifetime.

"I'm supposed to be a piece of nothing, I'm not supposed to be

here, according to the statistics," said Ortiz, whose parents

abandoned him when he was young, forcing him and his five siblings

to live in foster care. "I'm tired of, 'You can't do this, you

can't do that.' "

Early in his career, Ortiz was anointed the next

Mexican-American superstar by Oscar De La Hoya, whose company

promotes him. But his meteoric rise met a wall when he fought

Marcos Maidana two years ago. Ortiz was losing after six rounds and

essentially quit in the ring, one of boxing's cardinal sins, and fans

and the media were quick to write him off.