Pacquiao/Mayweather Blood Test Gate: It's a No-Brainer

I've been following the Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao drug testing fiasco with great interest over the past few weeks. 

So much so that I even felt compelled to sign up for this great website and express my feelings on the subject.  I hope, as a mere tyro when it comes to this sort of writing, I can express those feelings adequately.

From what I have deduced from my reading of the articles, both here and elsewhere, there is a great divide of opinions in relation to this contentious issue. 

I have detected also, however, that the opinions are rooted, not with regard to the issue itself, but with the actual boxers themselves. 

Fans of Pacquiao, the boxer, maintain that Mayweather's demands are out of order, the Filipino was entitled to reject them, and that Mayweather is "scared" to fight. 

Likewise, fans of the American insist that his demands are necessary to promote a clean fight, and that Floyd will be subject himself to the very same treatment as his opponent. 

Everything else aside, including the fact that nobody wants to read another article on this, I am going to try and look and this issue objectively, without being blinded by my feelings for either of these boxers.

So let's look at the actual matter at hand here.

The use of performance enhancing drugs in sport has been the focus of intensive debate for many years now (the wikipedia article tells me it goes back to the early 19th century!). 

Certainly in the past few decades it has been a much scrutinized issue in sport. 

To break it down simply though, the use of such drugs to gain an advantage are condemned universally; medals get stripped, athletes get banned, reputations get tarnished.  We can surely all accept that contention.

With this condemnation in mind, it must also follow that the desire to rid sports of PED's is universal. 

And from that premise it must therefore follow that all necessary means to obtain that objective should be taken. 

Applying this logic to the Pacman/Mayweather situation, I would hold that Floyd is totally justified in demanding the random blood testing. 

I don't claim to be a scientist, but it is clear that the drug testing in boxing is not sufficient to find out the cheaters. 

Surely then Floyd must be commended for attempting to change these archaic testing methods and bring them in line with more stringent standards. 

I am genuinely baffled by people who can hold otherwise.

We, as sports fan, vilify those sportsmen and women who are found guilty of the use of PED's.  We dismiss their achievements and frown upon their actions. 

And we are right to do so. 

Yet there are some people who claim that Pacquiao should not be obliged to succumb to Mayweathers demands on this issue. 

But isn't this just showing an indifference to the use of drugs in boxing? Accepting that it could happen, and if it does it's not so bad? 

For me, it is an absolute no-brainer that boxing authorities insist on the most up-to-date form of drug testing available. 

For its' credibility, and my own faith in the sport, it needs to keep pace with other disciplines when it comes to the drugs issue. 

It's as simple as that. 

Pacquiao himself was so appalled with the insinuation that he was a drugs cheat that he filed a law suit.  He, like everyone else, must obviously frown upon the use of PED's. 

I find it strange then that he would not want to insist, or at least agree, to the set of testing designed to detect a greater variety of drugs.

In my own mind the issue is a straightforward one.  I can only apologize if I haven't expressed what is in mind in such a straightforward way. 

Thanks,

Donal