United States Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart calls American sports “war” — a landscape full of desperate athletes who will do anything to win.
The Nevada boxing scene is no exception, Tygart said, and with a possible “Fight of the Century” looming between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas, Tygart believes his own battle to convince the Nevada Athletic Commission to adopt blood testing into its drug-screening policy has never been more relevant.
“I think they have to implement (blood testing) if they want to have a chance at a clean program,” Tygart said. “If you’re a boxer in Nevada, you’re not being competitive without using those drugs.”
Tygart said blood testing can detect certain performance enhancers that urinalysis cannot, including human growth hormone, blood transfusions, hemoglobin and certain forms of the steroid EPO.
In June, the NAC held a public hearing to gather information on supplementing its current urine-testing policy with blood tests, which included testimony from Tygart and Dr. Robert Voy, a former chief medical officer of the United States Olympic Committee. Despite the meeting, no decision to add blood testing to the NAC policy has been made.
“We never see any regulation as being static or set in stone,” NAC executive director Keith Kizer said. “We’ve (the NAC and USADA) had an ongoing dialogue before Mayweather and Pacquiao was proposed, and we will continue to do that.”
This spring, USADA and NAC conducted unrelated tests on Mayweather and Shane Mosley for their May 1 bout in Las Vegas — USADA taking blood tests and the NAC testing the fighters’ urine.
A potential showdown between Mayweather and Pacquiao was stalled last year after a dispute over blood testing.
Mayweather has been adamant that Olympic-style testing should be conducted before a potential bout with Pacquiao, but the mega-fight has no bearing on Nevada’s consideration of the blood program, Kizer said.
“We’ve never adopted anything for high-profile fights,” Kizer said. “The guys in the four-round fights are just as important as the guys in the 12-round fights. (USADA) only tested Mosley and Mayweather on May 1. We tested Mosley and Mayweather and 10 other guys on May 1.”
Reno fighter Joey Gilbert was suspended for 14 months in 2007 after Quest Diagnostics, the Utah-based laboratory affiliate of NAC, concluded that Gilbert had tested positive for various performance enhancing drugs and methamphetimine.
The meth charge was later dropped, but Gilbert has a pending lawsuit against Quest in dispute of the findings and believes blood testing would be more accurate than urinalysis.
“If it’s supposed to be about protecting the athlete, and not the dollar, than absolutely,” said Gilbert, who defeated Billy Bailey in a bout Saturday night at the Grand Sierra Resort. “Our commission here in Nevada, they are the best, they are the brightest, if they haven’t instituted it yet, they don’t feel it is necessary. It doesn’t mean that we can’t get better.”
Kizer said the detection of HGH among Nevada fighters is a “very legitimate concern,” adding that while urine will not detect HGH, blood testing would have to be conducted 48 hours following a fighter using HGH. And neither are fool-proof when it comes to finding EPO use.
“There are some forms of EPO that can be detected by blood testing, and there’s other forms of EPO that can be detected only by urine testing,” Kizer said.
Cost is another concern. Kizer said the NAC spends about $150 to conduct a urine test on a fighter, while that cost would likely double for blood testing.
Another point of dissent between USADA and NAC is the possible adverse effects a blood test could have on a fighter’s health, a consideration that was prevalent in last month’s hearing.
“There’s definitely a chance of hematoma, nicking a vein, infecting a guy with something,” Kizer said. “It’s not uncommon. … It’s a very low chance of happening. It’s not zero, but it’s very low.”
While cost and health are concerns for the NAC moving forward, Tygart believes the solution is simple for Nevada: attach a $1 “integrity and sports contribution” to pay-per-view fights and a new blood testing program could efficiently perform.
He said that if the contribution had been set up for the Mayweather-Mosley fight, the program could be funded for five years. As for the health complications of blood testing, Tygart said that it was an unfounded excuse for the NAC not to adopt the program.
“It’s a joke,” Tygart said. “If you have proper procedures in place, and experienced doctors involved, it’s not an issue at all.”
The ideological war between the two testing methods will certainly linger as a possible match between Mayweather and Pacquiao is arranged.
The likelihood of blood-testing trickling down into the future procedures of NAC remain open, said Kizer.
“Urine testing isn’t the end all, be all,” Kizer said.
