Pacquiao vs. Mayweather: Where They Stand Now on the Drug-Testing Issue?

The highly hyped  talks between the promoters of Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao may suffer the same fate as the first two failed attempts due to drug-testing issues that continue to hound Pacquiao and Mayweather.

The issue of random drug testing as a condition imposed by Floyd Mayweather, Jr on Manny Pacquiao before he commits to fight the Filipino boxer has been a thorn in the negotiating process.

The random drug testing controversy started when Floyd Mayweather, Jr joined his father and other people in his team in accusing Manny Pacquiao of using performance enhancing drugs PEDs) to gain some added advantages over his opponents.

They claimed Pacquiao won't be able to win over his much bigger opponents if he is not taking performance enhancing drugs.

For having accused Pacquiao without a shred of documentary evidence to back up their charges, Mayweather and some members of his team  have been charged in court for a case of defamation by Manny Pacquiao through his lawyers. The case remains pending in a California court and is due for resolution.

Manny Pacquiao continues to deny he is taking performance enhancing drugs while Mayweather continues accuse Pacquiao of using PEDs.

As proof of his innocence on Mayweather's drug charges, Pacquiao said he has passed all drug and urine test conducted by the Nevada Sports Athletic Commission(NSAC) and he does this every time he fights in Nevada.

But Mayweather maintains he wants random tests to be done by USADA and not NSAC.

Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum contends NSAC is the legal governing body in the state of Nevada that covers the sport of boxing and not USADA.

In his effort to accommodate Mayweather, the Filipino boxer said he has decided to accept Mayweather's demand for a 14-day drug testing window. But when negotiations resumed, the undefeated boxer said the random test should be done all the way up to the night of the fight.

When Mayweather fought Mosley after the first failed negotiations, Mosley's random tests stopped 18 days before the fight.

It is not clear why Mosley was given 18 days while in the case of Pacquiao who has agreed to a 14-day window, it did not apply.

During the second round of negotiations, the parties have admitted the random drug and urine tests were no longer an issue. Mayweather's camp denied this saying there never was a negotiation that took place despite Oscar de la Hoya's statement days prior to Bob Arum's deadline saying the fight was almost a done deal.

Oscar de la Hoya controls Golden Boy Promotions, the company that represented Mayweather in negotiating with Bob Arum, Pacquiao's promoter.

The reason given was that not one of his team was negotiating with Bob Arum. There was no mention of the random drug issue as the reason for the second failed negotiations. Subsequently however, the issue of random drug test continues to come in the way of the negotiating process.

The issues raised during the two failed negotiations regarding the drug testing procedures have given boxing fans the idea that the issue was just being used as a ploy to cover up the real reason why Mayweather does not really want to face Pacquiao in the ring.

In the Mayweather-Mosley fight, Mayweather's last blood test was on April 13th and Shane Mosley's last pre-fight day blood test was on April 12th. This clearly shows that the 18-19 window was observed.

Last May, Ric Rockwell of Examiner wrote in his column: "These drug testing details are significant in the negotiations of Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr.  Since Floyd Mayweather Jr. was last blood tested 18 days before the fight, he should be more flexible in his stance on Manny Pacquiao's offer to be blood tested up to 14 days before the fight".

After his fight with Mosley, Mayweather chose not to talk about the random drug testing issues but eventually broke his silence by talking on radio about his "no random drug test, no fight" policy.

With Mayweather's stance on the random drug testing issue, boxing critics believe the fight that everyone in the word wants to see may not happen at all as the drug testing issues continue to hound Pacquiao and Mayweather including the negotiators from both sides.