MANILA, Philippines — Pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao is clean.
That’s the message from Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer Sunday after the results of two fight-night urine tests of Pacquiao and Sugar Shane Mosley “came back negative.”
Kizer told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that one urine sample was taken before and another after their bout for the WBO welterweight title on May 7 in Las Vegas, which Pacquiao easily won by unanimous decision.
Kizer said the Filipino superstar has always been tested before and after his fights in Las Vegas, and has never failed a drug test.
The NSAC medical report comes in the wake of a looming court suit over allegations by an anonymous individual in an Internet site that a Filipino sparring partner had revealed that he injected Pacquiao with steroids.
The story was picked up by Mosley and Floyd Mayweather Jr. on their Twitter accounts, prompting Pacquiao’s lawyers to study the possible filing of a court case.
The Internet story was quickly pulled out after Pacquiao reportedly requested the FBI to trace the source.
There was more good news for the Pacquiao camp. The pay-per-view numbers for the Mosley fight generated anywhere between 1.3 million and 1.4 million buys with the final numbers expected later this week.
Pacquiao’s highest PPV numbers was registered against Oscar De La Hoya, who quit on his stool at the end of the eighth round in June 2008. That fight attracted 1.25 million buys.
Top Rank chief Bob Arum earlier predicted that the cross-promotions by the US network CBS of the fight, which was telecast by “Showtime,” would help boost PPV buys.
Gate receipts at the MGM Grand Garden Arena amounted to over $8.8 million with a substantial percentage going to the WBO welterweight champion. /INQUIRER