Mayweather rejects $5 million penalty for dirty PED test

MANILA, Philippines – Manny Pacquiao wants Floyd Mayweather Jr to put his money where his mouth is on keeping the sport of boxing clean. 

Mayweather has reportedly rejected Pacquiao’s request for a $5 million penalty should either fighter test positive for a performance enhancing drug prior to their May 2 fight in Las Vegas.

The fighters will undergo random and urine testing under the United States Anti-Doping Agency, which will screen for steroids, human growth hormone (HGH), erythropoietin (EPO), and utilizing carbon isotope ratio (CIR).

 “I’m a little puzzled and a little dismayed that they wouldn’t agree to something this simple,” Pacquiao’s advisor Michael Koncz told the Los Angeles Times. 

Leonard Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions, responded: “If … Koncz and Manny didn’t communicate with their promoter during the negotiation, it’s a lame … attempt to generate some publicity.” 

A positive test calls for a four-year competition ban under the rules of the World Anti-Doping Agency, which accredits USADA. The fight could conceivably be canceled if either tests positive before the fight.

The issue of drug testing has been a central part of the long drawn out Mayweather vs Pacquiao negotiations, which began in 2010 and only materialized an agreement in 2015. 

Negotiations were nixed initially because Pacquiao rejected a clause for random testing but later agreed, with money being a prime sticking point in subsequent negotiations.

In 2012, Mayweather and Pacquiao settled a federal defamation lawsuit stemming from Mayweather’s suggestions that Pacquiao had used PEDs. 

Mayweather was ordered to pay approximately $114,000 in legal fees for not agreeing to be questioned under oath by Pacquiao’s lawyers.

Neither fighter has ever failed a post-fight test. – Rappler.com