Pacquiao is clean - test

MANILA, Philippines - The results of Manny Pacquiao’s urinalysis, done last Dec. 30 as required by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, are out. He’s clean.

“The tests came back to us last Monday and it’s no surprise to us that they’re negative,” said Pacquiao’s adviser, Mike Koncz, in a hastily called press conference last night at the Hyatt Hotel in Manila.

Koncz said Pacquiao, who was in a separate meeting when Koncz faced the media, hardly reacted to the results of the tests because “he always knew he was clean and that there’s nothing to react to.”

The NSAC recommended the urinalysis, as part of its requirements for the boxers’ annual licenses although Koncz said it might have something to do with the blood-testing controversy involving Flyd Mayweather Jr.

Koncz said the papers that came back with the results from Malaysia said “both tests” proved negative, meaning Mayweather could have taken the same test.

Pacquiao and Mayweather were supposed to figure in a superfight on March 13 but disagreements on the blood-testing procedures got in the way. Instead, Pacquiao will face Josh Clottey in Arlington, Texas.

“This is the last time we will comment on these results. What’s important with the results being made public is for us to clear Manny’s name after being tarnished by Mayweather and the Dela Hoya people,” said Koncz.

Koncz said Pacquiao is scheduled to leave for Los Angeles tonight along with trainers Nonoy Neri and Roger Fernandez, lawyer Franklin Gacal and his brother Bobby Pacquiao.

Then Pacquiao flies to Dallas on Monday for a press conference, to New York the following day and back to LA the following day. He begins his seven-week training at the Wild Card Gym on Thursday.

“But Manny asked to take his gear along because he wants to run in Dallas and New York,” said Koncz.

Pacquiao is also scheduled to host a benefit dinner for fellow boxer Z Gorres who’s been released from a Nevada hospital two months after undergoing a brain surgery.

Gorres collapsed after a fight in Las Vegas on Nov. 13 and had been in the hospital since, with bills reaching almost $500,000.

“Top Rank will take care of the $50,000 and the state the rest. We got some criticism why Manny had to wait before stepping for Z but there’s a reason.

“Had we done this earlier, it would have gone straight to the medical bills, and he’ll have nothing when he comes home. We knew the bills would be paid for by the state. We had a plan for Z but waited up to this point.”

Koncz said they plan to hold the benefit dinner three weeks from now and intend to raise as much as $500,000.

He said the other camp saying Pacquiao is into illegal performance enhancers has been proven wrong, and that Mayweather’s ridiculous demands regarding the blood testing is his only way out of the fight.

“We said we can take the blood tests right after the fight and still they wouldn’t agree. If there was anything that would help enhance Manny’s performance during the fight, then it should still be in his system 30 minutes after the fight,” Koncz added.


Source: philstar.com