Mayweather to Dictate Drug Testing Terms for Mosley Fight

By Paul Upham: Now that the contracts for the May 1 Floyd Mayweather Jr-Shane Mosley welterweight boxing match have been signed, SecondsOut can reveal a stunning component of their agreement. In signing off on the deal, Mosley has given Mayweather complete control over the drug testing to be implemented, apart from any testing that is required by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

A source who was involved in the contract negotiations for the fight told SecondsOut on Friday, “Shane has signed a contract that says Floyd can dictate the terms of the drug testing. Anything that Floyd wants is all right, as long as Floyd submits to the same testing requirements as Shane. There is no provision one way or another in the contract for public disclosure of the test results, although I would think that the parties would be bound to report a positive test result to the Nevada commission.”

In other words, Floyd Mayweather Jr has now supplanted the Nevada State Athletic Commission for his fight with Mosley in so far as testing for performance enhancing drugs is concerned.

The manner in which Mayweather chooses to implement this contract provision could reinforce or make a folly of his demand that Manny Pacquiao submit by contract to random blood testing - a demand which subsequently led to the cancellation of their proposed March 13 super-fight.

It also raises a number of important issues and questions about the Mayweather-Mosley fight and its legitimacy in the eyes of the public.

1. If U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) testing was demanded for Mayweather-Pacquiao, will it be insisted upon by Floyd Mayweather for Mayweather-Mosley?

2. What would the Nevada State Athletic Commission do if, just prior to the Mayweather-Mosley fight, they received a positive test result?

3. If there is no public disclosure of the testing, how could the public be sure that a positive test would be reported to the Nevada State Athletic Commission?

4. If there is no public disclosure of the testing, a positive test could result in the fight being cancelled with a bogus reason for the cancellation being given to the public.

One boxing insider, when told of the contract terms for Mayweather-Mosley, said, “If Floyd Mayweather Jr does not demand the same stringent USADA testing by USADA of Mosley that he was demanding of Pacquiao, it would look hypocritical at best.”

On January 17, SecondsOut’s senior columnist Thomas Hauser wrote a 10,000 word expose Mayweather-Pacquiao, PEDs, and Boxing. It was the most in-depth analysis ever of the issue of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) in boxing. The content of the story and the questions raised were applauded by those in the boxing industry and fans around the world.

In demanding that Pacquiao submit to Mayweather’s blood testing demands, Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer, put themselves in a very delicate position for future fight agreements.

Hauser wrote, “Golden Boy can take the lead on the issue of PEDs in boxing and become a beacon of integrity by requiring its fighters to submit to Olympic-style drug testing before each major fight. And in order to fight on a Golden Boy card (remember; Golden Boy has a lot of dates on HBO), it could require opponents to do the same.”

The contracts signed by Mayweather, Mosley, and Golden Boy Promotions, where blood testing is at Mayweather’s whim rather than a contractual requirement, call Golden Boy’s absolute demand of Pacquiao into question.

Also at this time, there has been no announcement about any contractually mandated drug testing requirements for the April 3 Bernard Hopkins-Roy Jones Jr rematch, which is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and Square Ring. Jones has previously tested positive for PEDs, while Hopkins (like Mosley) has never tested positive. However, it is a matter of record that Mosley did in fact use PEDs prior to his second fight against Oscar De La Hoya.

In his column, Hauser also observed that, if Oscar De La Hoya is truly committed to the improvement of boxing, he could “show the world how a righteous PED-free fighter acts. In order to fully inform the public on the issues involved (and remove any hint of suspicion that he himself might not have clean hands) Oscar should waive his right to confidentiality and authorize the Nevada State Athletic Commission to release the results of any tests for performance enhancing drugs that he has taken in the past. The same waiver should authorize all present and past NSAC personnel and any other person with knowledge of the situation to discuss the test results with any media representative who inquires about them.”

To date, De La Hoya has been silent on the issue of this waiver.


Paul Upham
Content Editor