The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has been retained to supervise rigorous drug testing for the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao fight, leaving each exposed to serious repercussions if either is found to be using performance-enhancing drugs.
USADA Chief Executive Travis Tygart told the Los Angeles Times the agreement will give his agency full access to conduct unannounced in- and out-of-competition blood and/or urine tests of the fighters at any point through fight night, May 2, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
“It’s a strong statement of the importance of clean and safe competition to have these two fighters voluntarily agree to have a WADA level anti-doping program implemented for this fight. We commend them for their stand for clean sport and the message it sends to all those who want to compete clean at the highest levels of all sport,” Tygart said.
Most seriously, Tygart said each fighter has agreed to stipulations of the World Anti-Doping Agency code, which calls for a four-year ban from competition for any athlete who tests dirty.
That would be a devastating fall for either the unbeaten 38-year-old Mayweather (47-0) or the record eight-division champion Pacquiao, 36.
USADA oversees drug testing programs for Olympic sports, including track and field, cycling and swimming, and has also been retained to preside over triathlons and some mixed martial arts and boxing matches.
The Mayweather-Pacquiao fight is expected to shatter pay-per-view and live-gate records, and Mayweather said at Wednesday’s news conference in Los Angeles that he expects to earn “nine figures for 36 minutes of work.”
Mayweather first insisted on USADA testing for his fight against Shane Mosley in May 2010, after Pacquiao declined to participate in blood testing, a stance that led to the scrapping of the first attempted negotiation for the fight.
Mayweather later claimed Pacquiao used performance-enhancing substances in a video shot by a friend, referring to “power pellets,” which led Pacquiao to sue Mayweather and collect a settlement believed to be in the $5-million range.
Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum said the rigid testing announced Friday “stops the rumors and bad speculation. This testing is cosmetic in the sense that it shuts up anyone making false accusations.
“We’ve agreed on the USADA testing, and we’ve agreed to their rules. I believe a lot of this that was spread around [about Pacquiao’s reluctance to test] was unfortunate and nonsensical. There’s not any issue with Manny or Floyd. They aren’t taking performance-enhancing drugs.”
Pacquiao suffered a 2012 knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez, who underwent urine tests by the Nevada State Athletic Commission that were performed only immediately before and after that bout.
Marquez had not knocked down Pacquiao in their three previous bouts.
Arum says the Nevada-based Voluntary Anti-Doping Assn. has tested Pacquiao for the last few years, including the Marquez bout.
Pacquiao has agreed to random blood and urine tests for each of his past three fights, against Brandon Rios, Timothy Bradley and Chris Algieri.
USADA is capable of testing for steroids, Human Growth Hormone, blood-doping methods and multiple other banned substances or masking agents.
In this negotiation with Mayweather, Pacquiao quickly accepted Olympic-style drug testing.
Follow Lance Pugmire on Twitter @latimespugmire
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