Nevada Athletic Commission to randomly test Pacquiao, Bradley prior to their April 12 bout
Francisco Aguilar, the chairman of the Nevada Athletic Commission, announced Friday the commission will make boxers Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley undergo a rigorous drug testing regiment prior to the April 12 bout in Las Vegas for the WBO welterweight title.
Top Rank CEO Bob Arum said he is funding the testing, which will cost $35,000 and will include Carbon Isotope Ratio testing and Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry testing. Those tests are used to detect exogenous testosterone. Arum said the money is being put into an escrow account.
Both Pacquiao and Bradley will be subject to random, unannounced testing up to and including the day of the fight. The commission has hired a World Anti-Doping Agency-accredited collection company to obtain the samples. The samples will be analyzed at a WADA-accredited laboratory.
In a statement, Aguilar said "As a Commission, we believe that implementing this enhanced protocol is taking our ability to ensure a clean fight to a new level. As always, our primary concern is the protection of the health and safety of the fighters and ensuring fans get a clean fight. We appreciate the support of Top Rank and Bob Arum in making this happen."
Arum said the fighters had initially agreed to use the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association, but that the commission overruled them.
"I called [Aguilar] and said, 'Look, we'll go to VADA and have them do it,' and he said no," Arum said. "He said, 'VADA is an outside agency. Let me talk to the commission and we'll do it like we did for the Bradley-[Juan Manuel] Marquez fight [last year].' I told him that was OK as long as it was the full WADA testing, with that stuff, the [CIR and IRMS] tests so we can make sure there is no artificial testosterone.
"I said that's great. I'm a lawyer and I understand that in a case like this, they're the only ones who can regulate. But now we have great testing and I'm out of it and the commission can handle it. That's the way it should be."
Pacquiao is spending the first part of his training camp in the Philippines, before finishing it in the U.S. Arum said the testers will be able to test Pacquiao in the Philippines.
The promoter will have no say in when, where or how the fighters will be tested and the fighters won't be given advance notice of when testers may show up.
