By Jim Dower: In an article from the Los Angeles Times today, they’re reporting Bob Arum, the promoter of World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao, has given a counteroffer to Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, saying that Arum wants an agreement by this Monday from Floyd Mayweather Jr. to have unlimited random urine tests, and the let the Nevada Athletic Commission decide on whether any extra blood tests are needed beyond the two blood tests that Pacquiao has already agreed upon.
Pacquiao is already agreed to having a blood test 30 days before the fight, and immediately after. Mayweather and Golden Boy Promotions have been seeking additional blood tests within the 30 day window. Pacquiao doesn’t want to take the extra tests, feeling that it weakens him to have blood taken from his body so close to the fight.
Arum wants the Nevada Athletic Commission to decision on the matter of whether the additional blood tests are needed during their next meeting on January 19th.
Arum says “Nevada [referring to the Nevada Athletic Commission] is the one who should have the say, not the fighters.
Normally, only urine is tested before fights. However, the Mayweather camp wanted extra testing for the March 13th fight, and recommended that the U.S Anti Doping Agency be used to test both fighter’s blood at random times leading up to the fight. Arum and the Pacquiao team don’t want Mayweather and his management team to dictate what kind of tests should be done before the fight, especially when it’s not unusually done for fights in Nevada.
Arum seems agreeable to doing whatever the Nevada Athletic Commission says, commenting “If the commission says both fighters have to give blood as they’re walking into the ring, we’ll do it. But I want the commission saying it, not some outside group with an agenda.”
As of now, Arum is prepared to finish negotiations with former International Boxing Federation light welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi for a fight against Pacquiao on March 13th, if Mayweather’s team doesn’t agree to the counteroffer that Arum has left for them. Malignaggi wouldn’t be nearly as popular as Mayweather, but he’ll make it interesting for as long as it lasts. Malignaggi doesn’t care about whether Pacquiao takes blood tests are not, as he’s just happy to get the fight with him because of the huge payday he’ll receive by fighting Pacquiao.
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