By Michael Marley, Examiner.com
Maybe Manny Pacquiao will now "see the light" on blood testing.
Pacquiao doesn't like getting jabbed by needles close to fight night.
Floyd Mayweather wants medical assurance that the Pinoy Idol isn't using illegal drugs which will give him an edge if they finally fight.
Pacman agreed to totally random urine testing. Pacman agreed to take a blood test 24 days prior to a Mayweather match and one immediately afterwards.
Mayweather demanded that they both have blood drawn 14 days before the bout. So there was a 10 day gap and their negotiations blew up.
I wondered what the magic was to Mayweather's 14 day demand.
It's widely known that Mayweather's side believes Pacman has used HGH.
Now I think we know why the 14 days before blood test is crucial in Mayweather's view.
The magic word is a blood test using what are called biomarkers.
But, according to an engrossing piece by Michael S. Schmidt in Monday's New York Times, there is an advancement in science using what are called biomarkers.
"A test similar to one used in cancer treatments has antidoping officials encouraged that they have found a new, and important, way to catch athletes using human growth hormone.
"The test uses the same science that detects bone and breast cancer. A laboratory technician takes several milliliters of blood and spins the sample in a centrifuge. The blood is then mixed with chemicals, a reaction occurs and an instrument is used to measure the illumination in the blood.
"The intensity of the light, antidoping experts say, signals whether the person has used H.G.H. over the past 10 to 14 days. The procedure is known as the biomarkers test.
"Antidoping officials are usually eager to trumpet new testing methods, and skeptics have at times accused them of overstating scientific developments. Nevertheless, the officials maintain that the biomarkers test is a significant advancement over the current test for human growth hormone. That test can only detect H.G.H. that has been used in the previous 24 to 48 hours.
"Officials for the World Anti-Doping Agency, which oversees the testing protocols of Olympic athletes and many professional athletes outside the United States, said that after more than a decade of research, the biomarkers test was only months from being put into use on athletes."
Officials of the National Football League Players Association are receptive to this biomarker blood testing and have said so on their website.
I realize we still be left in the lurch with a 10 day gap but let the promoters on both sides go to work and make this fight happen.
Let Manny and Floyd get jabbed for blood 14 days before the fight.
Then then can jab each other.
(mlcmarley@aol.com)
Source: examiner.com
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