By Ronnie Nathanielsz, PhilBoxing.com
Manny Pacquiao who is spending time with his family in his hometown of General Santos City and playing basketball to stay in shape, will fly to Manila tomorrow (Wednesday Philippine time) to comply with a directive from the Nevada State Athletic Commission to undergo a urinalysis.
Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz said Pacquiao will comply but there was no way he would fly to the US to provide a urine sample.
www.insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports contacted Koncz early Tuesday to inform Pacquiao about the latest ruling of the Chairwoman of the NSAC, Pat Lundvall, who invoked the right of the Commission to require both Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr to submit themselves to random urine tests.
Executive Director Keith Kizer informed us about the directive from Lundvall to have both Pacquiao and Mayweather who were scheduled to face-off in a March 13 super-fight to provide urine samples, since they are both licensed by the NSAC and are subject to these kinds of tests no matter whether the fight takes place or not.
Boxing writer Dan Rafael quoted Lundvall as saying that random testing “is the best way to evaluate the compliance with our rules and regulations against prohibited substances and the primary reason for that is that an athlete doesn't have time to cycle out or flush out any prohibited substances, and therefore random testing is the best thing to employ, which is why I thought it was a good idea for Keith (Kizer) to inform these fighters that we would like to have a sample and move forward with our random testing."
The head of the Boxing Division of the Games and Amusements Board which is the Philippine government agency that supervises professional sports, Dr. Nasser Cruz told us that “the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) accredited Dr.Alex Pineda from the Philippine Olympic Committee” to conduct such tests. Dr. Cruz said "He (Dr. Pineda) is the only one accredited by WADA” and since he is in Metro Manila, Pacquiao will have to fly in Wednesday to provide a urine sample.
Meantime, the HBO 24/7 pre-fight series prior to the Pacquiao demolition of Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton last May 2 showed footage of Pacquiao taking a routine blood test as part of his pre-fight medical exam in Los Angeles which he does before each fight. In fact, prior to his first clash with Erik “El Terrible” Morales, the records of his Los Angeles blood and others tests were lost and Pacquiao was ordered by the NSAC to undergo another blood test a couple of days before the fight. Despite vehement protests Pacquiao was forced to take the test to prevent the possibility of the Commission not allowing the fight to take place. Trainer Freddie Roach said later that the late blood test had affected Pacquiao and that was one of the reasons he lost to Morales in their first fight.
The HBO series indicated that the blood test on Pacquiao was conducted some 14 days before the fight. Rafael quotes Top Rank promoter Bob Arum as saying "I will transmit it [word of Pacquiao's '24/7' test] to Manny once [HBO Sports president] Ross Greenburg establishes the actual date of the test in '24/7' and [the Mayweather camp] makes a proposal based on what Ross has come up with.” Arum said “If that happens, I am sure I can convince Manny" to possibly take the test within the same time frame of 14 days.
However, Arum noted in his ESPN statement "It's a very good point to point out that Manny was tested so close to the [Hatton] fight. I'm not going to suggest anything to him though, until I hear from the other guys. They have to say, 'This is what Manny did. Here is what we propose.' Then I will bring it to Manny and say, 'Manny, look, you took this test however many days before the fight and it didn't affect you. Hey, you knocked him out in two rounds.'
Arum assumed that Pacquiao would listen to him but declined to make any promises. However, Arum made it clear he wanted the Mayweather camp “to make a formal proposal that this is the outside date for the blood testing based on Manny's prior test in 24/7 and then I will move mountains."
Source: philboxing.com
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