Pacquiao, Bradley agree to random drug tests

MANILA, Philippines - Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley will both undergo random drug tests to be conducted by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) for their rematch on April 12.

Bradley himself confirmed the news to Lem Satterfield of RingTV.com, saying VADA testing is among the conditions stipulated in their fight contract.

For his past two fights against Ruslan Provodnikov and Juan Manuel Marquez, Bradley has subjected himself to such testing.

“I had it for the Provodnikov fight and the Marquez fight. I’m just trying to continue to do my diligence as far as my career, and as far as cleaning up the sport,” he explained.

“[Pacquiao and I] both have agreed to VADA. Like I said, we’ve both agreed to all of the terms and that’s part of the terms, the VADA testing,” added Bradley, who will be putting his WBO welterweight championship on the line.

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 the 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.

Pacquiao underwent the same procedure for his fight against Brandon Rios in Macau last November. The Filipino icon passed all VADA tests, while Rios tested positive for a banned stimulant called methylhexaneamine.

Pacquiao-Bradley 2 will be staged at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.