LAS VEGAS – If it were up to Floyd Mayweather Jr., he wouldn’t want to be remembered for his six world boxing championships in five weight classes or victories over Oscar De La Hoya and the late Arturo Gatti.
Instead, the flamboyant undefeated welterweight wants to be known as the boxer who helped clean up the sport of professional boxing.
“I believe in the drug testing because I want to help clean up the sport,” Mayweather said. “What is so wrong about making sure a fight is fair?”
Mayweather (40-0, 25KOs) will take on Shane Mosley (46-5, 39KOs) Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in a showdown of two of the best fighters in this generation.
While it’s not the dream matchup fans wanted to see, it has the potential of being a groundbreaking fight for drug testing in boxing.
Both fighters voluntarily agreed to Olympic-style drug testing, which calls for random blood draws and urine tests overseen by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency before and after they step in the ring. Mayweather is on record as saying he won’t step in the ring against another fighter unless they agree to this stipulation.
“I just want to compete knowing that you have two hands, two legs and a heart just like me,” Mayweather said. “Nothing else should be a factor and the USADA drug testing, which can detect things not found in urine testing alone, helps make that happen.”
Yes, this is the same Mayweather who has played the role of the villain his entire career, making himself one of the biggest pay-per-view draws in a sport that desperately lacks personalities.
With Mayweather’s tough stance towards drug testing, it puts a dream fight between “Money May” and Manny Pacquiao, arguably the pound-for-pound best boxer in the world, in jeopardy.
Talks between the two camps ended abruptly in January because of a disagreement around the window for when Pacquiao wanted to be subjected to blood draws. The WBO welterweight champion claimed drawing blood made him weak and he didn’t want to be tested 24 days prior before stepping in the ring. Mayweather wanted blood testing up to 14 days before the fight.
With the fight temporally not in the picture, Mosley stepped up to the plate after stepping in the ring and hijacking Mayweather’s post-fight interview following his unanimous decision victory over Juan Manuel Marquez last September.
It’s ironic that the first boxer who was willing to go through the unlimited number of random blood and urine tests was Mosley, who admitted in a sworn deposition last October that he used “the clear” and “the cream,” two performance enhancing drugs before his July 26, 2003 fight against Oscar De La Hoya.
“For the first time, you have professional athletes in the sport of boxing approaching us to implement an anti-doping program,” Travis Tygart of the USADA said in a conference call. “These athletes are courageous in their position and their desire to be held to the most stringent anti-doping standard.”
Mosley announced at the pre-fight press conference on Wednesday that he was subjected to four blood draws and eight urine tests leading up to the fight.
“It is only fairness I am looking for because when it comes down to it, and after all things are said by each guy’s team and the media and the fans, the only thing that matters on the night of the fight is me and him,” Mayweather said.
Mayweather should be commended for being on the forefront on an issue that could potentially damage an already dying sport. Because of his efforts, the Nevada State Athletic Commission will hold a hearing in May to determine the effectiveness of the drug-testing program used for this fight. If Nevada has a drug-testing policy in place, Pacquiao has said he would be willing to fight Mayweather.
“It’s a big statement that takes it to the forefront,” said Golden Boy CEO Richard Schafer. “It is those kinds of events that can act as a trigger for change. And I hope it will be a trigger. Who knows? Maybe five years from now we’ll look back and say the trigger to all this was the Mayweather-Mosley fight.”
