Pacquiao, Rios undergo drug test for Macau bout

MANILA, Philippines - With still over a month away from their fight, Manny Pacquiao and Brandon Rios have already undergone random blood testing, a boxing website reported Wednesday.

According to a report by Lem Satterfield of ringtv.com, both Pacquiao and Rios have been tested by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) as stipulated in the contract for their bout in Macau, China on Nov. 24.

No less than VADA founder Margaret Goodman confirmed the news but said that the organization won’t release the results to the public.

“I confirm that both fighters have been tested by VADA. The results that we get go directly to the fighter, or to whomever he designates from his camp. They go to the promoter, which is obviously Top Rank, the China Commission, and it goes to the Association of Boxing Commissions,” Goodman said in the report.

“So we don’t release results to the public. The fighter can release results to the public at any time. Any other details regarding testing or results will have to come directly from the fighters’ camps, the promoter, the ABC or the China commission,” she added.

In its mission statement, VADA describes itself as “an independent organization founded to offer and promote effective anti-doping programs in boxing and mixed martial arts.”

The company aims to protect the health and safety of fighters, who through voluntary participation “are willing to demonstrate their commitment to clean sport.”

Under the VADA program, fighters are tested for banned substances randomly in the weeks leading to a fight. This is different from the usual post-fight tests conducted by boxing commissions, which are reportedly unreliable because of their inability to trace some performance-enhancing drugs especially if fighters deliberately undergo a program to conceal their use.

The issue of random blood testing has been a central element in the bogged talks for a Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather fight, with the Filipino initially declining to undergo such procedure. Pacquiao has since changed his stance and agreed to be tested randomly for performance-enhancing substances.

Pacquiao and Rios will meet at the Cotai Arena of the Venetian Resort in Macau.