No Holds Barred: Mayweather-Mosley and Drug Testing

Mayweather vs Mosley
By Eddie Goldman

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman provides a candid and unvarnished report from the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Shane Mosley kickoff news conference, the kind you will not see or hear from the bought-off and clueless boxing media.

We focused on the issue of drug testing, since the proposed fight between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao was cancelled because the Pacquiao camp refused to undergo the type of anti-doping procedures which are done in the Olympics. Mayweather then signed to fight Mosley May 1 in Las Vegas, Nevada, with an announced stipulation that both fighters would indeed have to follow the guidelines of the World Anti- Doping Agency, and not just the much weaker and effectively obsolete testing done by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

Right before the start of the formal news conference, held Tuesday, March 2, at the Nokia Theatre in Times Square in New York, Richard Schaefer, the CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, the lead promoter in this fight and in which Shane Mosley is a managing partner, said that the drug testing would be conducted by USADA, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, an affiliate of the World Anti-Doping Agency. Oscar De La Hoya then added that it will be done "head to toe" for both fighters.

After the formal news conference, we again spoke with Schaefer to get more information on what could be an historic step forward for the otherwise decaying sport of boxing. There were plenty of words, but few specifics, as he revealed that there was nothing in the contract for this fight to stipulate the penalties for a positive drug test conducted by USADA.

We also spoke with one of the few straight shooters in boxing, Naazim Richardson, who is training Mosley. We spoke with him about why he is so confident that Mosley will be the first fighter to defeat Mayweather, and about his own experiences with the Olympic drug- testing procedures with fighters he has trained, including his son, 2004 Olympian Rock Allen.

Plus, we comment on this news conference itself, and why spectacles like this, including the obligatory pull-apart mini-brawl, are only harbingers of death for the sport and business of professional boxing. You can play or download No Holds Barred at http://nhbnews.podOmatic.com/entry/2010-03-03T05_26_02-08_00. You can also download No Holds Barred at http://www.mediafire.com/?amkzlmiddkn. If one link does not work, please try another. The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.

Source: braggingrightscorner.com