By Mark Whicker

Anton Novikov said he isn’t opposed to the VADA testing that Jessie Vargas is proposing for their WBA junior welterweight championship fight Aug. 2.

But he said he hadn’t heard about it until someone asked him Tuesday morning.

"That’s because we didn’t tell him about it,” said Steve Bash, his promoter, as Bash and Novikov attended a Holllywood press conference Tuesday.

“This fight is less than a month away. Victor Conte made a proposal about using VADA testig. Anton has no problem with it, but some of his management does, because of the politics of it. It won’t happen in this fight because the management of it is being proposed by people aligned with Vargas.“

“I don’t mind any type of testing,” Novikov said, with Bash interpreting. “The people who are winning fights should win them fairly.”

Novikov carries a 29-0 record into this fight, which leads into the Brandon Rios-Diego Chaves main event at the Cosmopolitan Hotel.

However, only one of his past six opponents has fewer than five losses on his resume, and Novikov hasn’t knocked out any of them.

“I haven’t had that difficult a fight yet,” he acknowledged.

Asked how he knew he was ready for a test like Vargas, Novikov sniled and said, “29-0. That’s it.”

Mark Whicker has been a sports columnist in Southern California for 27 years.