Friday, January 1, 2010

Pacquiao- Mayweather Blood Feud: CBS Sports Gregg Doyel's Folly

There are articles written by writers that are worth reading, and then there are articles that are not worth the time to read. CBS Sports columnist Gregg Doyel’s article entitled “Boxing’s bloody mess: Manny meet McGwire” belongs to the latter. It is a bloody mess only because it harped on things that are nothing but the byproducts of the pure unadulterated warped sense of American righteousness and the crap that goes with it. CBS' image would be a lot better if they would stop patronizing people like him who are obviously not capable of logical thinking and deal mostly in speculative fiction.



The eras of the Salem witch hunts and McCarthyism may be in the past but make no mistake about it; many Americans still harbor those wicked principles in the dark abyss of their hearts and the deep recesses of their small minds if they suit their purpose. They would even lie and omit pertinent facts to justify their positions.

Doyel tried to sugarcoat his partisan views on the issue of the Manny Pacquiao- Floyd Mayweather Jr. mega fight fiasco with what he deemed were logical premises on the surface, but on closer examination, they smacked of double-standard, lack of knowledge and outright ignorance to justify his leaning toward his fellow American in this particular case.

I will just raise and discuss some points here in passing. I’ll do a clearer and more extensive explanation on the issues in my next post entitled “Pacquiao- Mayweather: Who’s Bad?” in the coming days. Suffice it to say that for now I will just refute some of Gregg Doyle’s dumb assertions.

“Now the onus is on Pacquiao. Like so many who came before him -- McGwire, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, cyclists and sprinters and body builders -- he is guilty until proven innocent. But this is different from the Salem witch trials or the McCarthy's reign of terror, because the solution is simple:

Do the blood test.“


Putting Manny Pacquiao in the same league as Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and the like is nothing but a ploy to condition the mind of a gullible public to condemn him for these make- believe accusations that primarily originated, without rhyme or reason nor any evidence to back up the said claim, from the mind of a known drug addict and convicted dealer (Floyd Mayweather, Sr.), that were then parroted by several personalities that either had an axe to grind (Schaefer & Golden Boy) or simply lacked the brain power (Malignaggi and Cintron) to comprehend the things that they are talking about that was then aided by the equally biased and ignorant press like Doyel and his ilk.

I am also quite amused on how some media people are now saying, and gullible people are really buying it, that the Philippines is now capable of systematic sports doping typically reserved for technologically- advanced countries like the United States, Russia, China and the United Kingdom just to name a few. It’s not only laughable but absurd. The sporting world’s Hall of Shame have been populated by athletes from those countries mentioned above since God-knows when. The list is a veritable who’s who of people adored and worshiped by people all over the world before their ignominious fall from grace.

Correct me if I’m wrong but there is no record of any Filipino athlete that has tested positive on any performance- enhancing drugs (PEDs) in the history of any sports that they have participated in and Manny Pacquiao is not and will not be the first one to break the said record.

The Olympic Style Drug Testing proposed by the Mayweather camp is not only unparalleled and unprecedented in the history of professional boxing but is also not the norm by any governing body that oversees and sanctions the sport like the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

All of a sudden here comes Floyd Mayweather Jr. and his posse accusing Manny Pacquiao of this and that and demanding this tests and that for Pacquiao to undergo. Manny Pacquiao of course did what a proud champion who earned his spurs in the square ring should do- he stood his ground, refused to be bullied and bamboozled into this kind of foolish exercise.

Let us remember that Floyd Mayweather Jr. is not the belt holder and P4P champion to even demand such stuff; he is not boxing’s hottest property nor is he above anybody nor has the authority to demand such tests. He is not the NSAC and is not even close to being an expert on the subject.

And unlike the accusers of the MLB ’roid warriors and Golden Boy partner Shane Mosleywho came forward with loaded guns, the Mayweather camp doesn’t have anything but their foul mouths and hot air to show. They are not in possession of any documents (BALCO), pieces of evidence (Clemens’ syringe) nor have witnesses (trainers) on hand that link Manny Pacquiao to Performance- Enhancing Drugs (PEDs).

It is on record that Manny Pacquiao has never tested positive in any tests (like A-Roid) conducted by competent authorities in his entire career to even justify their accusations. Let the Mayweathers show us some proof of what dirt they really got on Pacquiao, and only then will Pacquiao be bound to prove himself. This is the most logical thing to do so as not to dignify these baseless allegations further. The contention that if Pacquiao has nothing to hide, he should just do the damn test, doesn’t hold water in this case, if you ask me. This is simply a matter of pride and principle to avoid a precedent that will encompass a witch hunt whenever a boxer will accuse and besmirch somebody of anything at a drop of a hat.

Manny Pacquiao is a proud and honest man and is not that dumb person that will just jump into their whims and caprices. But believe you me, Manny Pacquiao is not unreasonable and would readily accede to an Olympic Style testing in a heartbeat if a sanctioning body like the NSAC would require it for his fights or to an extent if Mayweather would agree to a 65- 35 purse split in Pacquiao’s favor.

Now back to Mr. Doyel’s contentions in his article-

“Pacquiao's supporters say he will do the blood test, but they are right only up to a point. They refuse to see beyond that point, because that's what supporters do: They see what they want to see. And Pacquiao fans see this: They see Pacquiao as being accommodating -- willing to submit to a urine test whenever it is asked, and even willing to submit to a blood test months before the fight, or shortly after the fight.

Pacquiao fans ignore this glaring truth, that their hero is not willing to give blood in the weeks leading up to the fight.

When the HGH would still be in his system.”


It’s really elementary but Mr. Doyel is obviously way out of his league in this case. He should at least emulate Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and at least take some time to study the subject and gather the pertinent facts before he puts his thoughts on paper. He is ignorant on the matter and is an embarrassment not only to himself but to the CBS Network to say the least.

I will not even go into Mr. Doyel’s malicious theory and insinuations regarding Manny Pacquiao’s weight and power that he was able to carry as he scales one division after another. Had he done his research properly and consulted some knowledgeable people, he would know the answers right away.

Let me just get this straight though; Manny Pacquiao never refused the blood tests. He already agreed beyond what the Nevada State Athletic Commission demands for its fighters. But then the camp of Floyd Mayweather Jr. wanted more but could not even make up their minds on what they were looking for and asked for additional tests to be added in the contract. First, they want Manny Pacquiao to be tested for steroids then backtracked when they learned that this can be tested via urine. They then demanded that he be tested for Human Growth Hormone (hGH) and are now even demanding to add EPO to the lot which is an obvious fishing expedition. So, why would we take these obvious trial and error accusations seriously?

If there are people who are muddling the issue here, they are the Mayweathers, the Golden Boy Executives led by Schaeffer and journalists like Mr. Doyel who do not possess the necessary smarts to comprehend the subject, yet they act like experts on the matter. They concoct stories and brew conjectures in their small minds and pass them off as truth serum.

These people should at least learn and study how anabolic steroids and hGH work: the mechanisms of action and its effect; the life span as well as the half life of the said chemicals in the system and the proper manner of detection; how to quantify their levels as well as the correlating factors that affects each and every organ system in the body.

If only they knew these things then they will be enlightened enough to know that whatever crazy idea they have in their sinister minds is far, far from the truth and realize that they really have no business talking about the subject lest they will be exposed and labeled as buffoons who have no business venturing in a field that they have no idea about in the first place.

There is an old saying which best described the attitude of this stubborn yet unenlightened few- “Little learning is a dangerous thing.” Yes, Mr. Doyel, that’s precisely the reason why a lot of innocent Americans have lost their lives at the stakes in the past.

And I’ll leave you with this food for thought in the words of Golden Boy’s henchman Richard Schaeffer in answer to Zab Judah’s demand for admitted Steroid user "Sugar" Shane Mosley to undergo a more thorough drug testing similar to what his promotion company is demanding for Pacquiao prior to their fight that was eventually canned,

“Whatever tests they (the Nevada Athletic Commission) want them to take, Shane will submit to that,”

“We are not going to do other tests than the Nevada commission requires. The fact is Shane is not a cheater and he does not need to be treated like one.”


And that, folks, is the classic American double- standard and hypocrisy at work for you.

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