by Natasha Aiello | Mon. June 28, 2010

As boxing fans continue to clamour for the Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. super-fight to establish the sport's undisputed pound-for-pound as well as welterweight ruler, a summary of the ongoing drug-testing stalemate is in order.

Pacquiao thus far has refused to buckle to Mayweather's demands which would subject him to the "Olympic style" drug-testing program of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

"Olympic-style" drug-testing means the testing would be random and as often as the USADA would like.

It's common knowledge Pacquiao is superstitious about having blood drawn in general, much less right before a fight (This superstition was born when Pacquiao was blood-tested before his first bout against Erik Morales, which he lost).

The areas of contention between the Pacquiao and Mayweather camps remain; type of testing (blood or urine) and cutoff date for testing (How many days prior to the fight would the fighters need to submit to requests for a sample?).

Team Pacquiao has refused such random tests, and instead have offered to give blood directly after the fight. The USADA claims that a scheduled blood-test would give Pacquiao's team the opportunity to shoot him up with a masking agent and thus render the test meaningless.

So it seems there is an impasse and the fate of the super-bout hangs in the balance.

Months after negotiations broke down, and with one more win in the record books for both Pacquiao and Mayweather, the question remains...was this a pressure tactic designed by Floyd Mayweather Jr. to ultimately avoid fighting Manny Pacquiao?

There are many inconsistencies within Golden Boy Promotions' protocol that would make it seem so. While negotiating the PPV bout between Shane Mosley and Zab Judah in 2008 (the fight never got made), Golden Boy CEO, Richard Schaefer refused the Olympic style drug-testing requested by the Judah camp stating, "Whatever tests they [the Nevada State Athletic Commission] want them to take, Shane will submit to that. We are not going to do other tests than the Nevada commission requires. The fact is Shane is not a cheater and he does not need to be treated like one."

Freddie Roach, Paquiao's trainer has stated that they will adhere to the rules and tests enforced by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC), which includes extensive drug tests through urine analysis, a method that NSAC Executive Director, Keith Kizer considers less invasive than blood testing.

"Urine tests are not only cheaper, they are more effective and there are no risks of nicking a blood vein or causing an infection," Kizer explains. "If blood tests are administered in the locker room, something like nicking a vein or excessive bruising would force us to cancel the fight, not to mention the risks of infection administering a test in that kind of environment." Kizer states "Our goal is to deter the use of drugs [by athletes] in the first place." It is Kizer's belief that if drug tests aren't strictly enforced, the athletes who don't normally use performance-enhancing substances may feel compelled to do so in order to even the playing field. "Blood tests are not as effective as urine tests in most cases," Kizer says. "As far as I know, the only test that shows up better in blood is EPO (blood-doping), which is a long-term test that should be administered over the course of months and months in order to be accurate."

When asked whether he thought Manny Pacquiao uses steroids, Kizer immediately answered, "No. We've tested Manny Pacquiao several times, including the fights during his climb through the weight classes and he has always tested clean."

Roach has even proffered a letter from the NFL, arguably the strictest professional league when it comes to drug-testing, which would state that blood testing is unnecessary and less effective than urine or saliva tests. Though a blood test has been developed for human growth hormone (HGH,) the test has not been proven effective or reliable, as it has never detected HGH in any of the athletes tested, including all of the athletes at the Olympic Games of 2008.

A Brief History

Mayweather was accused of ducking the mega-fight in May, 2009, when he announced his first fight out of retirement would be against Juan Manuel Marquez. The announcement came on the day of Pacquiao's fight against Ricky Hatton. Fight fans and media outlets started calling Mayweather out for his apparent avoidance of fighting Manny Pacquiao, though claiming himself to be the true pound-for-pound king of boxing. Brian Kenny of ESPN went head-to-head against Mayweather, accusing the former pound-for-pound champion of dodging Pacquiao in an on-air interview (click to see video clip,). Mayweather may have suffered his first comeuppance at the hand of Brian Kenny, but the real blow came when ticket sales to his comeback fight against Marquez were dismal. The fight was moved from July 18, 2009 to September 19, 2009 due to an alleged rib injury suffered by Mayweather, but many people have speculated the real reason for the postponement was to build the fight and increase ticket and projected PPV sales. Mayweather dominated his fight against Marquez, who was forced to gain over 10 pounds for the bout. Mayweather even came in two pounds overweight, tipping the scales further in his favor. Instead of regaining the respect of fans for beating the pound-for-pound second best in Marquez, Mayweather suffered further criticism from the media and spectators alike.

Hip Hop icon Eminem's Sirius radio station, Shade 45, received a phone call from the former pound-for-pound champion on October 29th, 2009, and Mayweather quickly found himself challenged on-air about his cherry-picking ways by Hip Hop star RA the Rugged Man, who was being interviewed. Rugged Man verbally lashed out at Mayweather for protecting his record and not fighting anyone who would test him (click to hear audio clip zSHARE - mayweather vs ra the rugged man.mp3).

Conversely, Pacquiao went on to fight one of the the welterweight division's most feared fighters, Miguel Cotto and with a stunning TKO victory in the 12th round, affirmed his position as boxing's pound-for-pound king.

During Pacquiao's post-fight interview, fans repeatedly chanted, "We want Floyd!" as they implored Larry Merchant to ask who Pacquiao would like to fight next. Pacquiao gave the usual answer, stating he would fight whomever his promoter put in front of him. Mayweather immediately went on record, harping to anyone who would listen that Manny was avoiding the fight by not specifically calling Mayweather out when asked who he'd want to fight next.

Mayweather stated, "Tell Manny Pacquiao to be his own man and stop letting everyone including his loudmouth trainer, talk for him. If Manny Pacquiao wants to fight me all he has to do is step up to the plate and say it himself."

During coverage of Manny Pacquiao's LA victory party days after the Cotto fight, a KTLA Los Angeles reporter asked Pacquiao, "For the record, do you want to fight Mayweather?"

Pacquiao replied, "For the record, yeah."

This may have forced Mayweather's hand to start negotiations for the fight of the decade, but since then fight fans are left wondering whether he will actually go through with it. The ongoing blood-testing hoopla only confirms the fans' worst fears, that this much-anticipated fight may not get made. It seems Mayweather's camp has found a way to back out of the fight while saving face.

Freddie Roach states "I'm not going to let my fighter endure any kind of blood test so close to the fight. We don't work for Mayweather. I'm perfectly happy complying with whatever the Nevada State Commission asks of us."

In My Opinion

The beginning of 2010 saw boxing fans around the globe optimistic about the prospects of a Mayweather vs. Pacquiao bout. With the year half over the world now asks, "Will this fight ever be made?"

Many arguments can and will continue to be made for both sides, regardless though, I expect the match to be for November of this year.