By Michael Herron – The most highly anticipated match-up in recent memory is on the verge of collapse due to Team Mayweather’s insistence and Team Pacquiao’s refusal to submit to Olympic style drug testing which include blood and urine analysis. Both camps are standing firm on the matter but the ripple effects have cast a cloud over the boxing world.
The term that has garnered all the attention and has thus become the focus of the negotiation is “random,” as in random dates and times for the procedure to be conducted. According to Mayweather advisor Leonard Ellerbe, “random is random. The whole purpose of doing something random is for surprise. We’re not backing off.” The surprise however, for boxing fans around the world, is that Manny Pacquiao has flat out refused to submit to random testing instead preferring to know exactly what date and times the test will be conducted. Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum has routinely iterated that Pacquiao is willing to submit to testing 30 days before the fight and immediately afterwards. This proposition however has been rejected by the Mayweather camp as it conveniently removes the concept of “random..”
Arum’s initial explanation that the test will weaken his fighter or that Pacquiao is afraid of needles and is superstitious about giving blood has been met with well deserved criticism but the most legit argument offered however is that the Nevada State Athletic Commission does not require blood tests. With a governing body on board stating blood tests are not required Team Pacquiao may have indeed found a sure fire way out of this bloody situation. A much more difficult governing body however is that of public opinion that historically does not look kindly at athletes who refuse drug testing. Can Pacquiao find a way out of this needling situation as well?
Boxing as a sport has not been mainstream (at least in the United States) since the era’s of Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard. Since then boxing has been regulated to premium cable networks and pay-per-view outlets. The sport has truly been supported by the hardcore fans whose enthusiasm simply spills over to the general public as a big fight approaches. With relatively little media coverage in the U.S. boxing has gone under the radar when it comes to the intense drug testing and steroid contention that mainstream sports receive. Baseball, football, cycling, and Olympic athletes in particular have come under heavy fire with steroid allegations, convictions, and even cover-ups. As a matter of fact steroid use in mainstream sports has become so rampant that many in sports media have dubbed this the steroid era.
In the case of Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, it is asserted that urine based testing alone, as required by the Nevada Commission does not and can not detect all banned supplements. When asked his opinion, Victor Conte, former head of BALCO, and obvious expert on the subject has given his take on the “blood test” crisis, “In my opinion, blood testing for the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight is more important for detecting possible blood doping or use of EPO than it is for human growth hormone…”Traditional testing in boxing, it’s basically worthless other than the detection of some types of stimulant, before and after a fight….“To just say, I’ll be tested on this date, there’s all sorts of things you can do with announced testing, you can’t do with unannounced testing.” Though Conte is a convicted steroid distributor his opinion on this topic certainly carries weight.
As the general public hear the facts and listen to both sides of the argument enough information has been provided by various media outlets for nearly anyone following the “blood ” crisis to develop an opinion, and right now Pacquiao’s light is not looking to bright. Pacquiao, in response to being asked to submit to random drug testing, has gone on the defensive by refusing to test, call off the fight, and also threatening to sue Golden Boy Promotions, Floyd Mayweather, Jr., and his father Floyd Mayweather, Sr. for libel, defamation and slander. This approach, ironically, is not that different from athletes associated with Victor Conte; Marion Jones, Barry Bonds, and even welterweight champion Shane Mosley for example, all sought to sue Conte for defamation when in reality they were all trying to protect their own hide.
To Pacquiao and Mayweather’s credit neither fighter has ever tested positive for banned supplements but the general public, as a result of this episode, has now been educated and figuratively inducted into the world of athletic doping. We now know that there are indeed supplements that can not be detected by urinalysis alone; we also know that athletes can routinely avoid detection if they know when test will be conducted. Pacquiao, in my opinion, needs to understand these facts and not subject himself to doubt. Yes it is true that the Nevada Commission does not require random blood test but once an athlete is publicly asked to submit to drug testing on an international stage there really is no choice but to say yes. Manny Pacquiao this is a test and right now you are failing.
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