DONAIRE-RIGONDEAUX DRUG TESTING ISSUE RESOLVED
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 20 Feb 2013
Ringodeaux.
WBO/Ring Magazine and WBC Diamond Belt super bantamweight champion Nonito ?The Filipino Flash? Donaire?s threat not to go ahead with his scheduled title fight against WBA champion Guillermo Rigondeaux at the Radio City Music Hall in New York on April 13 has been resolved.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum explained in a conversation with the Manila Standard that Rigondeaux said ?he wasn?t going to sign the drug protocol which was in English, because he didn?t understand it.?
Arum said Donaire interpreted Rigondeaux?s refusal to mean the two-time Cuban Olympic gold medalist didn?t want to sign the Voluntary Anti Doping Association (VADA) document.
However, Arum told us VADA ?translated the drug protocol into Spanish and now everything is fine.?
He said Donaire was ?on his way to New York? for the scheduled news conference on Thursday and Rigondeaux ?is coming down from Florida.? The luncheon news conference will be held at the B.B. King Blues Club & Grill on Times Square.
Donaire, named ?Fighter of the Year? by several prestigious organizations including the Boxing Writers Association of America, ESPN, Ring, Yahoo Sports and Boxing Scene had earlier threatened to skip the press conference claiming that Rigondeaux was backing off on his agreement to undergo random drug testing under VADA which Donaire himself voluntarily agreed to all year round and has won untainted praise for setting a fine example.
Rigondeaux?s manager Gary Hyde told Ryan Songalia of The Ring that he would meet the WBA champion in New York to sign the agreement which is now in Spanish so Rigondeaux ?will know exactly what he is signing off on.?
Hyde made it clear that Rigondeaux ?has not refused to take VADA testing.?
The Donaire-Rigondeaux unification title fight will be telecast by ABS-CBN on Sunday, April 14 over its pre-eminent Channel 2 as well as The Filipino Channel which has a huge following especially among Filipinos in the Middle East.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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