By Alexander Fugate: People from the Mayweather and Mosley camps met with Travis Tygart, of the USADA, on Thursday, to discuss the testing to be performed on both fighters for their clash on May 1st. Mayweather and Mosley will both undergo olympic-style testing, including random blood and urine tests before and after the fight. The testing will be overseen by the USADA. Mosley has admitted to using PEDs for his second meeting with Oscar De La Hoya, but claims he was unaware of it at the time thinking the PEDs were just vitamins and/or supplements.

While Mayweather and Mosley would like this to be a prelude to more comprehensive testing in boxing, it seems unlikely due to the costs. It wouldn’t be a problem for any mega-fight like on May 1st, or any other big time fight on HBO, Showtime, or PPV, but testing all club fighters, journeymen, and those who are just starting out in the professional ranks, could be too expensive.

Despite the extra costs of ensuring a level playing field and protecting fighters from repeated power shots, accomplished by using illegal PEDs, German promoter Sauerland is leading the way. Sauerland recently signed an extension with the German network ARD. ARD added a clause to the extension where Sauerland will have to perform Olympic style drug testing on all of its fighters. The testing will be done by the German National Anti-Doping Association under the auspices of the Austrian Boxing commission. Almost immediately after implementing this testing, it already nabbed one pugilist looking for that extra, unfair advantage. Pablo Navascues was scheduled to battle Sebastion Sylvester for a middleweight title, but Navascues failed a random test, so a replacement opponent was found for Sylvester. This should also mean that pugilists Arthur Abraham and Mikkel Kessler will have olympic style drug testing done before their future fights, including their bouts in the Super Six tournament, since they are both with Sauerland.

Most experts are in unison in the belief that the current testing for PEDs in boxing is wholly ineffective. Its well known that different kinds of blood doping, PEDs that help a boxer more than any other PED, can only be detected through blood tests, and some blood doping are out of one’s system in 2-3 days. This makes it easy to beat the tests if you know when they are going to be. Blood doping increases red blood cells, thereby greatly increasing stamina. Using this form of cheating in training can pay amazing dividends in the later rounds of a fight.

With Mayweather-Mosley leading the way in the US and Sauerland leading the way in Europe could boxing be on its way to implementing more stringent testing? While some worry about costs there could be some sort of compromise, allowing for effective testing but not going as far as Olympic style testing for every fight. One such form could be allowing for the Olympic style testing, but whoever performs it could use their discretion and not test for every fight. This would save on costs and scare many fighters from taking any PED since they would be aware they could be tested on any given day. Another idea would be testing, but only for televised bouts. This wouldn’t effect club fighters and would go a long way in ensuring a level playing field for all major bouts and any fight on television. If PEDs helped a pugilist get to the top level, than not only would they have less physical attributes when they reached the big stage, but it could also effect them mentally. If a boxer becomes used to using PEDs it can become a sort of crutch for them and lead to them believing they need that extra advantage. Whatever happens with the testing issue, its good to know some major players in the world of boxing are leading the way to weed out PEDs in their beloved sport.