Does Team Mayweather suspect Manny Pacquiao is using human growth hormones? That's one of the few reasons why they would request Olympic style drug testing by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) in the first place. Human growth hormone (HGH) is a hormone produced by the pituitary gland and is responsible for tissue growth by stimulating protein formation. In other words, HGH is responsible for the growth of humans. There are several reasons why an athlete would abuse HGH supplements, namely increased strength, increased lean muscle mass, decreased stored fat and higher energy levels, but the most appealing reason might be that it's nearly impossible to detect, making it very easy to get away with its use.
Team Mayweather is well aware of the difficulties in testing for the banned supplement and, as such, have requested that both sides submit to more stringent testing procedures. One would think that for $40 million, subjecting yourself to a few random blood tests should be a no-brainer. In fact, in a sport marred with controversial decisions, illegal handwraps and prior steroid abuse, one would think that much more should be done in order to ensure an even playing field on all fronts. "Clean up the sport," is the battle cry that many fans shout, however, if it comes at the expense of the most anticipated fight in recent years, they may not be so eager to see those changes come about.
"Yeah, I definitely want Pacquiao to give blood. How is that going to affect him mentally? You could give blood a day before the fight and it wouldn't affect you, let alone 3 weeks out. Something isn't right man and we're going to make sure everything is copacetic," world-class trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. would tell FightHype's own Percy Crawford just one day prior to the highly-anticipated clash being in jeopardy with the recent news that Pacquiao would not agree to have his blood taken within 30-days of the bout. According to reports, the Filipino icon, as well as his world-renowned trainer Freddie Roach, are concerned that drawing blood so close to the fight might weaken the 7-division world champion.
"Giving blood right before the fight could be like having sex right before the fight. It's 100% mental. If it's in your head that it weakens you, then it will weaken you," Roach would tell Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports. "The thing is, I talked to the drug testing people today and I said,'Can you guarantee me that Manny wont have to give blood the day before the fight?' They said no. I said,'Then we can't do the test,'" he added. "We go by the commission rules, the sanctioning body rules. Mayweather doesn't make the rules, we don't work for Mayweather. He needs us, we don't need him." Ironically, when it comes to commission rules, Freddie Roach has no problem bending them when it comes to catch-weights, as was the case in November when Miguel Cotto was forced to defend his 147-pound welterweight title at a catch-weight of 145 pounds...but I digress.
Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum, obviously agrees 100% with his fighter. "We're not going to agree to have Manny give blood in training, because that's stupid. Every doctor in the world will tell you that is stupid. He'll give his blood at the beginning of the year and he's willing to be urine-tested 24/7, but blood doesn't show [expletive] and he's not going to do it," Arum explained, as he made it clear that Team Pacquiao had no problem submitting blood samples prior to training and immediately after the fight. Although he has no problems with random urine tests, Arum stands firm on his belief that there's no need for random blood tests. Roach would again echo those sentiments, "The tests he's requesting are not commission tests, they're not boxing tests and this is not an Olympic sport. A urine test is just as qualified as a blood test. [Human growth hormone] is not detected by blood or urine."
Therein lies the real root of the problem. According to both Arum and Roach, blood tests are ineffective when it comes to detecting performance enhancing drugs like HGH. However, according to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), a blood test is the only current reliable test to detect HGH abuse. One of the first major HGH tests was introduced at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. Because HGH is usually taken by athletes during the off-season, positive tests rarely surface due to the fact that the blood test can only detect HGH between 24 and 48 hours after use. In order for the test to be effective, it must be administered using a "no-advance-notice" strategy, hence the reason why Team Mayweather is requesting the random Olympic-style testing.
It's fairly obvious that Team Mayweather is legitimately concerned that Manny Pacquiao's recent success through the divisions might be due largely in part to the use of human growth hormones. It is for that reason why they stand firm on their own stance of having more stringent drug testing policies than that of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which only takes two urine samples prior to and immediately after the fight. Urine samples aren't enough to detect the abuse of HGH. Neither is one blood test in January and another after the fight. If HGH can only be detected between 24 and 48 hours after use, then random blood tests must be given...no wait...scracth that...random blood tests SHOULD be given in order to ensure that neither fighter has been abusing the banned substance to give themselves an edge. After all, this wouldn't be the first time an elite world champion felt the pressure to win by any means necessary. Fernando Vargas, Antonio Margarito, Evander Holyfield, Roy Jones Jr. and Shane Mosley have all been connected to controversy and scandal in recent years. Although some will undoubtedly point their fingers at Floyd Mayweather for this latest snag in negotiations, I certainly don't think that asking for better testing policies is a bad thing in a sport that so many fans are eager to have cleaned up.
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