Manny Pacquiao takes unannounced drug test ahead of $350m fight with Floyd Mayweather

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Manny Pacquiao received a surprise visit from drug testers prior to his Fight of the Century with Floyd Mayweather.

Pacquiao was approached unannounced by an anti-doping examiner at the house he is renting in Los Angeles where he is preparing to face Mayweather in Las Vegas on May 2.

Both fighters can expect to be tested under the US Anti-Doping Association programme to which they have both signed up.

Manny Pacquiao was paid a surprise visit by an anti-doping examiner on Sunday to take a drug test

Pacquiao has a plaster applied after giving a blood sample to the examiner

Pacquiao was visited only four days after the packed red-carpet media event in LA which formally launched the build up to the $350million richest fight of all time.

The inspector called at the house, where Pacquiao was relaxing with members of his team between work-outs with master trainer Freddie Roach at the fabled Wild Card Gym

The PacMan readily complied with tests for both blood – a process about which he had previously expressed his dislike – and urine.

‘No problem,’ he told the medic, with a smile.

Earlier, his promoter Bob Arum had made it clear that Pacquiao had issued a $5m challenge to Mayweather with regard to the testing, and offered to surrender that amount should he fail the examination.

In addition to the giving blood, Pacquiao also gave a urine sample during the test

Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather can expected to be randomly tested before the bout on May 2 in Las Vegas

Arum explained: ‘Manny proposed that if either of them did not pass a test, that man should pay the other $5m.

‘Floyd’s team declined. Not because anybody here is afraid of the outcome but because they realised they could legally get a lot more if it happened.

‘Fine with Manny. If Floyd fails we will be looking for much more compensation than $5m.'

Pacquiao has already been paid damages – reportedly in seven figures – after taking legal action for remarks made by members of the Mayweather team, when they began demanding drugs-testing, which inferred that he might have used performance enhancing drugs in the past.

Under the US procedures, which comply with the World Anti-Doping Agency standards applied for the Olympics, both boxers must submit to random testing in the weeks leading up to the fight and to another immediately after the event.

Pacquiao was happy to be filmed by a camera crew from the Philippines, who are documenting the build up

Pacquiao proposed that if either boxer failed a drug test they would have to pay the other $5million

Pacquiao has had to overcome an element of paranoia that a loss of blood prior to fights might weaken him in the ring.

But he is so cool about testing now that he allowed video-taping of Sunday’s test by a Philippines camera crew which is filming virtually his every move between now and fight night in the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Mayweather has campaigned vociferously in the last two years for the implementation of random blood testing for all fights.

However, with a split purse of up to $180m for Mayweather and $120m for Pacquiao at stake, it seems inconceivable that either man would even remotely risk detection.

Pacquiao has been documenting his training , seen here going fr a road run on the streets of LA

Mayweather hits the speed bag as his training camp continues in his Las Vegas gym

Mayweather vs Pacquiao is widely considered to be one of the biggest boxing fights of all-time 

VIDEO Mayweather and Pacquiao camps exchange verbal blows 

Not all boxers make hundreds of millions of dollars for risking their lives in the ring.

Compared with the most lucrative pickings ever which await Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on May 2, our own Michael Watson was on a modest stipend when he climbed through the ropes to fight Chris Eubank.

That London evening in 1991 ended with Watson suffering crippling brain damage.

It is nothing short of a miracle, made possible by rapid and brilliant medical intervention, that Watson has survived to celebrate his 50th birthday, let alone along the way complete a London Marathon in six days with the ever-supportive Eubank for company.

Michael Watson (centre), pictured fighting Chris Eubank in 1991, turned 50 on Sunday

The bout left Watson with crippling brain damage and there will be a fund-raining dinner to celebrate his 50th

To celebrate Watson’s half-century, which he turned on Sunday, a fund-raising dinner will be held in London next month to help pay for the constant care he needs. The Teenage Cancer Trust will benefit, also.

David Haye and Joe Calzaghe will be among many star British boxers in attendance at The Park Lane Hotel on St George’s Day, April 23, along with American legend Marvin Hagler.

Tickets, at £275 each, are available from Geraldine Davies at [email protected]