SAC chief Keith Kizer (AP Photo)
Many are blaming Floyd Mayweather and Golden Boy for the testing issue that look to have scrapped the March 13th bout between Floyd and Manny Pacquiao. While accusations from both sides have been thrown back and forth for several days, there is another party who have stayed strangely quiet about the whole matter.
That party is the Nevada State Athletic Commission, who usually run licensing and control the testing procedures. I say usually because it seems at the moment people unqualified to demand extra testing are free to dictate to other fighters and promoters, effectively putting themselves in the place of the NSAC.
The State Athletic commission effectively has the most power of the various factions involved in any negotiation, and Las Vegas remains the biggest destination for Boxing in the world. Despite that, this latest fight falling apart because of demands over drug testing has shown that the NSAC are lacking, in both intent and execution.
Hopefully this will spark some kind of investigation into the NSAC and whether its own testing methods are sufficient if a large enough number of fighters feel that they aren’t. At the same time perhaps its also time for the NSAC to be able to effectively have total control over testing and take away fighters right to ask for more of it
Floyd kisses goodbye to $40 million dollars (AP Photo)
After all despite what a fighter might or might not have taken, only being subjected to extra testing for a single fight because the opponent wants it sets up the possibility of fights being overturned and for the entire testing process of the NSAC to be undermined.
If a fighter passed all the required state tests for example but then failed testing demanded by his opponent, then sooner or later every fighter would start demanding their own extra testing for every opponent. In which case the NSAC would become totally irrelevant.
Rumor has it that Floyd Mayweather has large debts to a number of casinos as well as the IRS and various other groups who are saying he owes them money. In short he probably isn’t as rich as he likes to brag he is. If the NSAC were able to and had put a stop to his testing demands from the start then not only would the fight probably be going ahead, but these type of problems could be avoided more easily in the future.
While the NSAC can’t dictate what a fighter asks for in his contract demands at the moment, withholding of licenses to any fighter they deem as being unreasonable or trying to bend the rules in their favor would probably go a long way toward solving the problem.
