This whole WADA or USADA contretemps is cooling down a bit now.
USADA zealot Travis Tygart, the guy who refers to Floyd Mayweather as ?the clean athlete,? is away on vacation and so is Manny Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum.
USADA media manager Annie Skinner informed me Monday that WADA, the world anti-doping body, does not conduct its own drug testing but certifies laboratories to do so around in many countries.
I don?t think Ms. Skinner meant to mislead a knucklehead like myself but I was surprised to learn by email from sports drug cheating expert of experts, BALCO?s former bossman Victor Conte, that USADA does not actually peform any drug testing, either. Instead, the American organization has its testing handled by WADA-certified labs.
But maybe we can move past WADA vs. USADA and put some greased lightning on a possible Mayweather-Pacquiao super fight.
I mean, you could argue it?s a world title bout, it?s battle between an American and a Filipino, it?s the Super Bowl or the Olympics of boxing and all that. If you accept that then having WADA oversee all the testing of both Floyd and Manny and reporting any problems and all results to the Nevada State Athletic Commission is the way to insure impartiality.
As Skinner told another scribe, USADA only oversees testing of USA Olympic athletes until the day the Olympic Village opens, then the International Olympic Committee takes over as to all the Olympians from all the nations.
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But, as I said, let?s move on.
I think the Mayweather and Pacquiao camps should agree to this panel to oversee drug testing for the Big Fight:
1. VICIOUS VICTOR CONTE?You hire the burglar to burglar proof your house, right? So bring on the Bay Area BALCO Bad Boy. Does anyone on the planet know more about how athletes can cheat this guy?
2. DR. MARGRET GOODMAN?Formerly ringside doc for Nevada commission, she calls as them as she sees them. She is beholden to neither camp and brings her medical expertise to the panel.
3. DR. ROBERT VOY?Highly respected in both pro and amateur (Olmypic) sports circles, Las Vegas physician has treated thousands of boxers. Another unimpeachable panelist.
4. NEW YORK COMMISSION CHAIRPERSON MELVINA LATHAN?We?re not picking panelists on the basis of gender, race or ethnicity but?fact is the longtime excellent fight judge happens to be African American.
Let this overqualified quartet oversee it all and report to the NSAC.
Frankly, I don?t see how either camp can object to any one of the four.
