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Mayweather, Pacquiao face heavy fine if they fail doping test
Boxing fans around the world have voted the winner belt which either Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao would wear after their historic fight.
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After a public vote was held for fans to choose between the unusual design or the more traditional green world champion belt, the emerald green, diamond-encrusted belt that has the World flags on it was chosen for the bout.
The belt, worth over $1m, would be gifted out to one of the pair when the fight takes place at MGM Grand Las Vegas on Saturday, May 2, 2015.
According to TMZ, who posted the image first, the belt was specially crafted for the winner of the historic fight. The WBC had two belts made — an emerald one and an onyx one — but a fan vote overwhelmingly picked the emerald.
Meanwhile, a top anti-doping official says Mayweather Jnr and Pacquiao face far more severe penalties for a prefight positive test for a banned substance than a $5 million fine unsuccessfully pushed by a Pacquiao adviser.
Travis Tygart, the Chief Executive of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, said a positive test would kill the May 2 fight and it also would subject the fighter who tested positive to a potentially career-ending ban of four years from competition.
“If there’s a positive test prior to the fight, the penalty for the fighter who violates it is going to be a lot higher than $5 million,” Tygart said last Friday.
Both fighters signed agreements for the USADA to oversee drug testing for the May 2 fight that will be boxing’s richest ever. Mayweather is expected to make at least $120 million and Pacquiao $80 million for the much anticipated bout.
Pacquiao adviser, Michael Koncz, had pushed for a $5 million penalty for a positive test, something the Mayweather camp rejected. The issue reportedly wasn’t settled until the night before the fighters met at a Los Angeles press conference earlier this month, when contracts were signed. — AP