When Manny Pacquiao did the patented "FPJ- pompyang" double- punch on Joshua Clottey in their fight dubbed The Event at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Texas last March 13th, many were actually surprised by the pound-for-pound king's actions. Many thought it was a spur of the moment decision made by Pacquiao because of Clottey's unwillingness to fight.
Now, it can be told. The "pompyang" double- punch was actually first put into action during his training camp en route to his fight with Joshua Clottey.
In a video by YouTube user, p4pedwinkhan, Manny Pacquiao playfully unleashed the "pompyang" double- punch on his sparring partner, 17- year old prospect Jose Benavidez.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Mayweather- Mosley: Fool's gold?
After an excruciating delay, which could be attributed more to the promoter’s calculated moves to hype the fight, rather than Floyd Mayweather, Jr.‘s seeming reluctance to face Shane Mosley, he finally inked the contract that will put the two protagonists in an All- American welterweight extravaganza on May 1st in Las Vegas.It is a fight that should have been fought earlier in their respective careers. It is a fight that many boxing fans have been waiting for although it was 10 years, or so, late, so to speak. Still, people in Michigan are excited to see this fight finally happens.
Mayweather-Mosley is not the biggest fight out there that everybody wants to see but it is a fight that most boxing fans can live with. So, whether we like it or not, we still need and want to see the fight with the hope that the eventual winner will trade punches with P4P king Manny Pacquaio later in the year.
For Sugar Shane who has been dogging Mayweather for a fight, it is a sweet testament that patience is indeed a virtue albeit with some help from two different forces combining to finally land him his long- cherished wish: Mother Nature wherein his fight with up and coming superstar, Andre Berto of Haiti, was canceled when the Haitian was unable to concentrate on his training because of the huge tragedy that occurred in his homeland, as well as from Manny Pacquiao, the Filipino superstar who Mayweather was about to face in a mega fight on March 13 until huge egos and disagreement over drug-testing protocol put the said fight temporarily on the wayside.
For Money Mayweather, after talks of his mega fight with Pacquiao collapsed (wherein boxing fans blamed him more for its demise than Pacquiao and the Pacman moving on and electing to fight the tough Ghanian Joshua Clottey in Texas) and with rumors that the IRS is breathing on his neck and debt payments accumulating in his midst, Money May was left with no other choice but to fight the next best fighter out there to salvage his sagging reputation (being labeled a cherry picker and a coward for running away from opponents that can give him a run for his money) and earn some moolah on the side to tide him over for the time being. It is also a fight that could silence his critics even temporarily for despite glowing credentials inside the ring, his opponent Mosley is no longer spring chicken and was not the fighter that he used to be at 39 years of age.
So is this supposed ‘mega fight’ for real? Will it live up to the billing of a super fight? Will it help Mayweather earn the respect of his peers and fans alike?
On paper, with the support of a giant network like HBO and a plethora of boxing writers sympathetic to their cause, it has the making of a huge Pay-Per-View event pitting two Americans with enough name recall to sell the fight. It is a fight with great promise if both fighters want it to be.
But despite all the hype and the obvious scripted dramas that are being peddled to us, this so-called mega fight may disappoint rather than excite and could just be a big waste of money especially if the fighters will come to the ring unwilling to wage a war. This fight will become a stinker and a bore if the fighters would rather dance the night away than engage in a real firefight.
But make no mistake about it: the American boxing public will no doubt shell their hard-earned money to support the fight for they are hungry for an American to carry on the torch that many great American fighters like Ali, Leonard, Hearns and Robinson, just to name a few, carried before them in a sport that they used to dominate.
And since many are that hungry to re-live the American glory days in boxing, it will be easy for the dream weavers to weave their tales that many will be gullible enough to buy, turn a blind eye and justify a fight without drama as a showcase of what the sweet science is all about- that is to run around in circles, pop a few jabs here and there, and with ‘great defense‘, try not to get hit by your opponent inside the ring as the epitome of a ‘great fighter‘.
But a huge PPV success is not always synonymous with a Great Fight.
In the past, they could peddle a ho-hum fight and get away with it. In this day and age of a down economy people tend to hold on more to their money; that’s why fight fans will not tolerate a so-so fight and would want more value for their money.
Mosley’s record as a fighter speaks for itself. We also know how skilled a fighter Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is and what he is capable of. That’s why in a fight of this magnitude, people expect that both fighters will bring their best at fight time and are clamoring for a really exciting fight worthy of the millions that the fighters will earn in the process.
But being a highly-skilled fighter doesn’t give one the license for an easy way out, in this case. And unlike in the amateurs, people want to see in professional boxing a highly-charged and entertaining fight. They want the protagonists engaging in a fierce battle with each other at the center of the ring like the gladiators of yore.
So, the question really is, will Mayweather-Mosley live up to its promise?
Or will it be another robbery of epic proportion?
Food for thought: “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”
Visit my Examiner page for more @ Detroit Boxing Examiner
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
Mouthpiece: What now, Floyd?
The withdrawal of Andre Berto in his January 30th fight date with Shane Mosley further pushed Floyd Mayweather, Jr.’s back to the wall. Earlier in the year, Manny Pacquiao boxed and fenced him in and now Shane Mosley will provide the nail on the coffin for Money May to finally man up and step up to the plate lest he will be labeled as the ‘greatest coward of all time.’
This recent development coupled with his impasse with Team Pacquiao regarding the so-called Olympic- style drug testing put Floyd Mayweather, Jr in a very tenuous position. This recent development means Floyd Mayweather, Jr.’s days of shooting from the mouth are over and now he has to let his fist do the talking.
The onus is on Floyd to prove to the boxing world that he is for real, and that all his pronouncements of him being the best there is, are not just idle talk. Whereas if he was able to cherry-pick his opponents as well as fight fighters not his size in the past and get away with it, Floyd Mayweather, Jr literally and figuratively will now have to put his money where his mouth is. .
After the falling out of his mega fight with Manny Pacquiao, boxing fans will not be too keen of seeing him fight a green fighter like Saul Alvarez or a clown like Paulie Malignaggi or an old man in Nate Campbell or even a smaller Timothy Bradley when a real and ‘badder’ welterweight is just around the corner.
After the falling out of his mega fight with Manny Pacquiao, boxing fans will no longer tolerate him evading and ducking fighters that will challenge his claims of being ’the greatest fighter of all time.’
After the falling out of his mega fight with Manny Pacquiao, fans will not look at him too kindly while he continues to fleece them of their hard-earned PPV money.
After the falling out of his mega fight with Manny Pacquiao, his being a disciple of the roadrunner is over. Yes, he can still run but he cannot hide. Or better still, he cannot run and hide at the same time now. He is left with no other choice but to toe the line and fight Mosley, if you ask me.
After Manny Pacquiao, Mosley is the next best thing there is for Mayweather since he would never step up to fight Paul Williams anyway. You bet, he won’t and will never do a Pacquiao, that is, climb up in weight, fight and challenge bigger and meaner fighters than himself.
And despite his age, Shane Mosley is a legitimate P4P elite fighter. Despite his age, Mosley is still sugary sweet and will be a handful inside the ring for any opponent. Another thing, Mosley is a fighter who will bring the fight to his opponent which will make this one a really good fight. Most of all, Mosley called out Floyd and actually embarrassed him right after his fight with Juan Manuel Marquez.
But this makes us think if and when the fight actually happens, will Golden Boy Productions and Team Mayweather do an Olympic- style drug testing under the USADA aside from the customary testing being done by the Nevada State Athletic Commission since Mosley is an admitted PEDs user?
If Mayweather will not fight Pacquiao, I believe, this fight is the next best thing although I will not deal now with the hypocrisy of preferring to fight an admitted steroids and EPO user rather than fighting a fighter who has never tested for one nor has proven links to people and companies that deal with PEDs.
But this also makes me realize that if and when the fight actually happens, Mayweather can prove to all of his critics and detractors that he is really the fighter that he says he is. He can now silence them and even earn their respect because this will be his most important fight to date and a step up towards becoming a real man. This will be a very significant one if he is really keen on a ‘Battle Royale’ with the Pacman later in the year.
So, your move Floyd.
Note: This article can also be found at Now Boxing
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Manny & Money: Re-mapping Teddy Atlas' brain
ESPN Friday Night Fights host Teddy Atlas just became a rumormonger and he just made a respected network like ESPN a fish market by peddling fishy tales that reeks of Golden Boy’s rotten propaganda machine about the purported emails that began in Tim Smith’s New York Daily News report allegedly coming from Manny Pacquiao’s camp with regards on what to do if and when he tested positive for PEDs in his fight with Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
Reading his answers to BoxingTalk’s G. Leon’s interview, I couldn’t help but laugh and be amused of how this self- styled straight shooter was obviously bumbling and fumbling on his answers. He was trying to look cool and confident but we could easily discern that he was following a crooked script while struggling to deliver straight lines.
If I didn’t have any idea of the man’s personality and reputation and on what he was trying to impart to the ill-informed and uneducated habitués of the boxing world about an unsubstantiated issue that is obviously being rehashed by people with vested interests, maybe I could have been easily swayed.
Maybe the people behind this issue are believers of Nazi Propaganda Chief Joseph Goebbels‘ dictum that “if you tell a lie big enough and keep on repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it”, huh? Looking at their records, I wouldn’t be surprised if they are.
But despite the well- thought out and well- rehearsed plan, his slips are quite obvious and his inconsistent statements are glaring.
Teddy Atlas: “I'm really not going to talk too much about this because again, the internet to me is like a graffiti board and it just gets more and more, I mean you got people like Mike Marley out there who are just low-life people. To me, I feel dirty every time I go near the internet. I feel like I got to take a shower or something.”
He can take a shower as many times as he wants but the dirt will not fall off his skin. He belittles the internet and yet he preaches about his belief that the so-called email is genuine and real. If he really understands his thing, he could’ve realized that emails are products of the internet and anybody can make an account, write something and send them to anybody with these and that allegations. Anybody with an understanding of how the internet works should take this kind of allegation as nothing but garbage.
If these alleged emails really exist and that they really came from Team Pacquiao and knowing that there is no love lost between the two camps, they should have come up and showed them to us by now. It’s a known fact that emails can easily be traced to the IP address from where it originated. Thus, these emails simply don’t exist but are, rather, just another black propaganda concocted by people with sinister minds.
In answer to the question, “Why would the Pacquiao people be so stupid to send out such an email?”
Here’s what Teddy Atlas had to say-
"I don't think he has any rocket scientists around his group. You ever watch 24/7? (laughs) I mean none of these guys have rocket scientists around them. That's all I can say. It seems on the surface like a very stupid thing to do, to obviously have a record of something that can be incriminating or potentially look as though there's something that leads towards something inappropriate by even asking such a question? Yeah, I agree. And that was the first thing I asked. Why would somebody be so stupid to leave a paper trail on that? But yeah, these people that are around boxing, both as writers, both on the internet, both as people who get to hang around the camp and wind up becoming people that are involved in their careers, they're not rocket scientists and it just makes me sick.”
Again this makes me laugh really hard.
Obviously, Teddy Atlas has a very low regard with regards to the intelligence of the people on Team Pacquiao as he believes that these people are nothing but a bunch of idiots because they are stupid enough to send incriminating emails to the other side of the fence.
If there is a study in contradiction, it would be Teddy Atlas. He says one thing and does another. He says things as if he is an expert yet his idea of what he is talking about is vague.
I am now beginning to suspect that Teddy Atlas really has no idea what an email is and that he isn’t computer literate at all.
Let me just cite two things in this case-
If he believes that the internet is full of graffiti and dirt, how come he believes an email that is the product of the internet? If he believes that the people in Team Pacquiao are not rocket scientists but are stupid, how come he buys the thinking that they are capable of giving Manny Pacquiao performance- enhancing drugs like hGHs and steroids?
The joke is on Teddy Atlas here and everybody is laughing but himself. Oh, how gullible and silly of him to be peddling this kind of nonsense that should have been confined to the gossip section of National Enquirer where it should be.
As they say in America, show me the money err the emails in this case if it really does exist. Otherwise, he should just keep his mouth shut to spare him of being labeled as a fool.
Note: This article can also be found at Now Boxing
Reading his answers to BoxingTalk’s G. Leon’s interview, I couldn’t help but laugh and be amused of how this self- styled straight shooter was obviously bumbling and fumbling on his answers. He was trying to look cool and confident but we could easily discern that he was following a crooked script while struggling to deliver straight lines.
If I didn’t have any idea of the man’s personality and reputation and on what he was trying to impart to the ill-informed and uneducated habitués of the boxing world about an unsubstantiated issue that is obviously being rehashed by people with vested interests, maybe I could have been easily swayed.
Maybe the people behind this issue are believers of Nazi Propaganda Chief Joseph Goebbels‘ dictum that “if you tell a lie big enough and keep on repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it”, huh? Looking at their records, I wouldn’t be surprised if they are.
But despite the well- thought out and well- rehearsed plan, his slips are quite obvious and his inconsistent statements are glaring.
Teddy Atlas: “I'm really not going to talk too much about this because again, the internet to me is like a graffiti board and it just gets more and more, I mean you got people like Mike Marley out there who are just low-life people. To me, I feel dirty every time I go near the internet. I feel like I got to take a shower or something.”
He can take a shower as many times as he wants but the dirt will not fall off his skin. He belittles the internet and yet he preaches about his belief that the so-called email is genuine and real. If he really understands his thing, he could’ve realized that emails are products of the internet and anybody can make an account, write something and send them to anybody with these and that allegations. Anybody with an understanding of how the internet works should take this kind of allegation as nothing but garbage.
If these alleged emails really exist and that they really came from Team Pacquiao and knowing that there is no love lost between the two camps, they should have come up and showed them to us by now. It’s a known fact that emails can easily be traced to the IP address from where it originated. Thus, these emails simply don’t exist but are, rather, just another black propaganda concocted by people with sinister minds.
In answer to the question, “Why would the Pacquiao people be so stupid to send out such an email?”
Here’s what Teddy Atlas had to say-
"I don't think he has any rocket scientists around his group. You ever watch 24/7? (laughs) I mean none of these guys have rocket scientists around them. That's all I can say. It seems on the surface like a very stupid thing to do, to obviously have a record of something that can be incriminating or potentially look as though there's something that leads towards something inappropriate by even asking such a question? Yeah, I agree. And that was the first thing I asked. Why would somebody be so stupid to leave a paper trail on that? But yeah, these people that are around boxing, both as writers, both on the internet, both as people who get to hang around the camp and wind up becoming people that are involved in their careers, they're not rocket scientists and it just makes me sick.”
Again this makes me laugh really hard.
Obviously, Teddy Atlas has a very low regard with regards to the intelligence of the people on Team Pacquiao as he believes that these people are nothing but a bunch of idiots because they are stupid enough to send incriminating emails to the other side of the fence.
If there is a study in contradiction, it would be Teddy Atlas. He says one thing and does another. He says things as if he is an expert yet his idea of what he is talking about is vague.
I am now beginning to suspect that Teddy Atlas really has no idea what an email is and that he isn’t computer literate at all.
Let me just cite two things in this case-
If he believes that the internet is full of graffiti and dirt, how come he believes an email that is the product of the internet? If he believes that the people in Team Pacquiao are not rocket scientists but are stupid, how come he buys the thinking that they are capable of giving Manny Pacquiao performance- enhancing drugs like hGHs and steroids?
The joke is on Teddy Atlas here and everybody is laughing but himself. Oh, how gullible and silly of him to be peddling this kind of nonsense that should have been confined to the gossip section of National Enquirer where it should be.
As they say in America, show me the money err the emails in this case if it really does exist. Otherwise, he should just keep his mouth shut to spare him of being labeled as a fool.
Note: This article can also be found at Now Boxing
Monday, January 11, 2010
Floyd Mayweather, Jr. versus Manny Pacquiao: Who's Bad? Part II
(Last of a two- part series)
The proposed mega fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, Jr on March 13, 2010 is definitely off owing to disagreements in both camps on the how the contentious and controversial drug testing will be done and what agency will handle it.
Let us look back and answer some issues that contributed as to why the said mega fight went kaput.
Bad Move
Whoever made the decision to come out with the Olympic- style drug testing from Floyd Mayweather Jr’s camp should be crucified for putting the death knell on the biggest fight of our time. This is not only unprecedented and unparalleled in professional sports but it borders to the absurd. On the other hand, this is an admission of the amount of respect Mayweather have on Pacquiao’s fighting prowess despite Mayweather belittling his skills and ability in various interviews.
We should remember that in Mayweather’s 40 professional fights, he did not demand this kind of testing which is unheard of in professional boxing until this fight.
Although they may have some valid points with this demand especially in this day and age of Performance- Enhancing Drugs (PEDs), they could have asked the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which is the proper venue for this kind of issue to consider them in their drug testing. They could have asked the commission for a hearing to hear their apprehensions and I’m sure the NSAC will be up to the task and educate them about the merits and demerits of such tests. I’m sure Team Pacquiao will not refuse the said tests if a competent authority like the NSAC, who oversees all professional sports drug testing in the State of Nevada, demands it and warrants the test.
Instead, they went full throttle with trial by publicity without showing any pieces of evidence or witnesses linking Pacquiao to using PEDs. Mayweather and their minions slander Manny Pacquiao’s name to anybody who would care to listen. It was a move that borders to idiocy. To me, this smacks of bad faith and utter disrespect to Manny Pacquiao.
Why jeopardize the fight with these unsubstantiated accusations that should have been confined only in gossip columns? Why deal in tabloid stuff when you are negotiating for the richest fight in boxing history?
Some people will say if you‘re clean and have nothing to hide, “why not just take the damn test and be done with it?”
We should understand that there’s a big difference between the Filipino and American cultures playing here. Rudyard Kipling once said in one of his poems that, “Oh East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.”
While an American would readily take the test to prove his innocence even if he knows that he is innocent in the first place just to appease his critics, this will not be the case to a Filipino. A Filipino will stand his ground if he feels that he is being coerced to do things that he feels don’t merit any considerations. A Filipino will be stubborn to a fault if he believes that his integrity is being questioned especially if he knows deep in his heart that the accusations are not true.
Manny Pacquiao doesn’t relish the fact that his integrity is being questioned. More so, being blatantly accused of being a cheater without proof by his nemesis. Being a true- blooded Pinoy, I can understand why Manny Pacquiao would rather walk away from millions of dollars than dignify these kind of unwarranted accusations.
Make no mistake about it, like many Filipinos, Manny Pacquiao is a proud man. If this was just an issue between ordinary people in Manila or in any other place in the Philippines and somebody accuses somebody of cheating, you can expect that blood will surely flow in order for the aggrieved party to clear his name.
Bad Press
The press went to town when Manny Pacquiao did not acquiesce to Floyd Mayweather Jr’s demand for an Olympic-style testing. Some media people were blaming Pacquiao for the collapsed of the mega fight yet they turned a blind eye on the fact that the accusations against Pacquiao were concocted by Floyd Mayweather, Sr.
They further fanned the blaze and tooted the line of a convicted felon, a confessed cocaine user and high school drop-out like it was gospel truth. If that is not an obvious indictment of the state of journalism in sports nowadays, I really can’t say. If Floyd Sr. is not the most polluted source that one can find, I really don‘t know.
The media did not bother to check the facts nor research on the issue properly. Instead of reporting facts, they resorted to conjectures. Instead of reporting the truth, they succumbed to rumors and innuendos. Overnight, many respected sports personalities metamorphosed into gossip columnists and tabloid reporters. They stopped being objective and seekers-of-truth and unknowingly became peddlers of lies.
Bad Medicine
If we study the history of doping in sports, we can easily deduce that the usual culprits are athletes from first world countries who have the capability to do systematic sports doping. It all started with the athletes of the former Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact nations to give their athletes the edge against their western counterparts during the height of the Cold War.
The Mayweathers showed their ignorance regarding the Philippines’ capability when it comes to doping in sports by saying in one of their interviews that “we don’t know what they are capable out there”, or something to that effect, when referring to the country as a haven for steroids and other PEDs.
The only Asian country that is known to conduct systematic doping with its athletes is China. Who can forget the notorious Ma’s Army in athletics and their record-breaking swimmers a while back?
But the US and other western nations are not immune to cheating in sports. The names of Ben Johnson, Linford Christie, Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery are now forever linked to steroids and doping.
In the US professional sports ranks, the baseball ‘roid warriors like McGwire, Clemens, Bonds, Canseco and Sosa forever tarnished baseball. Even Tiger Woods is now being linked to PEDs because of his trainer. Boxing is not spared either. Fighters like Roy Jones Jr, Evander Holyfield, Fernando Vargas and Shane Mosley, just to name a few, have tested positive for steroids at some point in their careers.
In all of these cases, the accusations are backed up with pieces of evidence (syringe for Clemens) and witnesses (trainers) accusing a particular athlete of wrongdoings. In all of these cases, the accused athletes have been linked to people or laboratories/ companies like BALCO (Mosley and Bonds) that are known to deal in sports doping. In all of these cases, the accused athletes have been caught or have tested positive for doping (Jones).
In Manny Pacquiao’s case, not a single piece of evidence has been shown. In Manny Pacquiao’s case, not a single witness has come forward to accuse him of using PEDs. In Manny Pacquiao’s case, he has never tested positive for PEDs. In Manny Pacquiao’s case, the people around him have never been linked, accused nor convicted of engaging in illicit drugs.
Also Richard Schaefer, Golden Boy's CEO was caught lying through his teeth and showed us his plain hypocrisy on this issue. He was on record of refusing a more thorough drug-testing on Shane Mosley, an admitted steroid user in his proposed fight against Zab Judah yet they were very adamant to do this on Manny Pacquiao.
"Whatever tests they 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."
The reason Olympic-style drug testing is usually done on athletes in the off-season (e.g. when they are deep in training) is because that’s the time that the benefits of PEDs (e.g. hGH & anabolic steroids) will come in handy to build those muscles and tissues. An athlete should have been using these banned substances for a long time for any changes in the body and the desired results to occur. It’s not as if you will just shoot them into your system, and voila, the dramatic effect will take place immediately. Besides, if one is a long-time user, there will be very visible changes not only in appearance but also in the psychological make-up of the user.
Nowadays, steroids can now be detected in the hair and when a positive test comes back, the urine sample is then tested for confirmation. Also, hGH is only effective if they are used in conjunction with steroids, and contrary to popular belief, it can also be detected in urine (aside from blood) by using molecular ‘markers’ which could be used as evidence of doping.
So in this case, whether you test Manny Pacquiao for hGH and anabolic steroids, 24- days or 14- days or post fight, is really immaterial since if he was really using them in the past, he would have tested positive for both, while on the other hand, if he will be using them just weeks before the fight, with a window period of less than 30 days, the desired outcome will not take effect nor make an impact on his performance. They should be looking for amphetamines and its derivatives instead.
Badass
In this mega fight fiasco, finger-pointing is the order of the day. But one doesn’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure out who’s the real badass and who’s not between the two protagonists.
They say, being a badass is not an act but a way of life. They say a badass doesn’t lie because a badass doesn’t need to lie. He is brutally honest and has a soft spot for the weak. He is a rugged man but possesses a calm and cool demeanor when dealing with everything in life.
So, between Manny and Money, who do you think is the real badass?
Note: This article can also be found at Now Boxing
The proposed mega fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, Jr on March 13, 2010 is definitely off owing to disagreements in both camps on the how the contentious and controversial drug testing will be done and what agency will handle it.
Let us look back and answer some issues that contributed as to why the said mega fight went kaput.
Bad Move
Whoever made the decision to come out with the Olympic- style drug testing from Floyd Mayweather Jr’s camp should be crucified for putting the death knell on the biggest fight of our time. This is not only unprecedented and unparalleled in professional sports but it borders to the absurd. On the other hand, this is an admission of the amount of respect Mayweather have on Pacquiao’s fighting prowess despite Mayweather belittling his skills and ability in various interviews.
We should remember that in Mayweather’s 40 professional fights, he did not demand this kind of testing which is unheard of in professional boxing until this fight.
Although they may have some valid points with this demand especially in this day and age of Performance- Enhancing Drugs (PEDs), they could have asked the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which is the proper venue for this kind of issue to consider them in their drug testing. They could have asked the commission for a hearing to hear their apprehensions and I’m sure the NSAC will be up to the task and educate them about the merits and demerits of such tests. I’m sure Team Pacquiao will not refuse the said tests if a competent authority like the NSAC, who oversees all professional sports drug testing in the State of Nevada, demands it and warrants the test.
Instead, they went full throttle with trial by publicity without showing any pieces of evidence or witnesses linking Pacquiao to using PEDs. Mayweather and their minions slander Manny Pacquiao’s name to anybody who would care to listen. It was a move that borders to idiocy. To me, this smacks of bad faith and utter disrespect to Manny Pacquiao.
Why jeopardize the fight with these unsubstantiated accusations that should have been confined only in gossip columns? Why deal in tabloid stuff when you are negotiating for the richest fight in boxing history?
Some people will say if you‘re clean and have nothing to hide, “why not just take the damn test and be done with it?”
We should understand that there’s a big difference between the Filipino and American cultures playing here. Rudyard Kipling once said in one of his poems that, “Oh East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.”
While an American would readily take the test to prove his innocence even if he knows that he is innocent in the first place just to appease his critics, this will not be the case to a Filipino. A Filipino will stand his ground if he feels that he is being coerced to do things that he feels don’t merit any considerations. A Filipino will be stubborn to a fault if he believes that his integrity is being questioned especially if he knows deep in his heart that the accusations are not true.
Manny Pacquiao doesn’t relish the fact that his integrity is being questioned. More so, being blatantly accused of being a cheater without proof by his nemesis. Being a true- blooded Pinoy, I can understand why Manny Pacquiao would rather walk away from millions of dollars than dignify these kind of unwarranted accusations.
Make no mistake about it, like many Filipinos, Manny Pacquiao is a proud man. If this was just an issue between ordinary people in Manila or in any other place in the Philippines and somebody accuses somebody of cheating, you can expect that blood will surely flow in order for the aggrieved party to clear his name.
Bad Press
The press went to town when Manny Pacquiao did not acquiesce to Floyd Mayweather Jr’s demand for an Olympic-style testing. Some media people were blaming Pacquiao for the collapsed of the mega fight yet they turned a blind eye on the fact that the accusations against Pacquiao were concocted by Floyd Mayweather, Sr.
They further fanned the blaze and tooted the line of a convicted felon, a confessed cocaine user and high school drop-out like it was gospel truth. If that is not an obvious indictment of the state of journalism in sports nowadays, I really can’t say. If Floyd Sr. is not the most polluted source that one can find, I really don‘t know.
The media did not bother to check the facts nor research on the issue properly. Instead of reporting facts, they resorted to conjectures. Instead of reporting the truth, they succumbed to rumors and innuendos. Overnight, many respected sports personalities metamorphosed into gossip columnists and tabloid reporters. They stopped being objective and seekers-of-truth and unknowingly became peddlers of lies.
Bad Medicine
If we study the history of doping in sports, we can easily deduce that the usual culprits are athletes from first world countries who have the capability to do systematic sports doping. It all started with the athletes of the former Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact nations to give their athletes the edge against their western counterparts during the height of the Cold War.
The Mayweathers showed their ignorance regarding the Philippines’ capability when it comes to doping in sports by saying in one of their interviews that “we don’t know what they are capable out there”, or something to that effect, when referring to the country as a haven for steroids and other PEDs.
The only Asian country that is known to conduct systematic doping with its athletes is China. Who can forget the notorious Ma’s Army in athletics and their record-breaking swimmers a while back?
But the US and other western nations are not immune to cheating in sports. The names of Ben Johnson, Linford Christie, Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery are now forever linked to steroids and doping.
In the US professional sports ranks, the baseball ‘roid warriors like McGwire, Clemens, Bonds, Canseco and Sosa forever tarnished baseball. Even Tiger Woods is now being linked to PEDs because of his trainer. Boxing is not spared either. Fighters like Roy Jones Jr, Evander Holyfield, Fernando Vargas and Shane Mosley, just to name a few, have tested positive for steroids at some point in their careers.
In all of these cases, the accusations are backed up with pieces of evidence (syringe for Clemens) and witnesses (trainers) accusing a particular athlete of wrongdoings. In all of these cases, the accused athletes have been linked to people or laboratories/ companies like BALCO (Mosley and Bonds) that are known to deal in sports doping. In all of these cases, the accused athletes have been caught or have tested positive for doping (Jones).
In Manny Pacquiao’s case, not a single piece of evidence has been shown. In Manny Pacquiao’s case, not a single witness has come forward to accuse him of using PEDs. In Manny Pacquiao’s case, he has never tested positive for PEDs. In Manny Pacquiao’s case, the people around him have never been linked, accused nor convicted of engaging in illicit drugs.
Also Richard Schaefer, Golden Boy's CEO was caught lying through his teeth and showed us his plain hypocrisy on this issue. He was on record of refusing a more thorough drug-testing on Shane Mosley, an admitted steroid user in his proposed fight against Zab Judah yet they were very adamant to do this on Manny Pacquiao.
"Whatever tests they 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."
The reason Olympic-style drug testing is usually done on athletes in the off-season (e.g. when they are deep in training) is because that’s the time that the benefits of PEDs (e.g. hGH & anabolic steroids) will come in handy to build those muscles and tissues. An athlete should have been using these banned substances for a long time for any changes in the body and the desired results to occur. It’s not as if you will just shoot them into your system, and voila, the dramatic effect will take place immediately. Besides, if one is a long-time user, there will be very visible changes not only in appearance but also in the psychological make-up of the user.
Nowadays, steroids can now be detected in the hair and when a positive test comes back, the urine sample is then tested for confirmation. Also, hGH is only effective if they are used in conjunction with steroids, and contrary to popular belief, it can also be detected in urine (aside from blood) by using molecular ‘markers’ which could be used as evidence of doping.
So in this case, whether you test Manny Pacquiao for hGH and anabolic steroids, 24- days or 14- days or post fight, is really immaterial since if he was really using them in the past, he would have tested positive for both, while on the other hand, if he will be using them just weeks before the fight, with a window period of less than 30 days, the desired outcome will not take effect nor make an impact on his performance. They should be looking for amphetamines and its derivatives instead.
Badass
In this mega fight fiasco, finger-pointing is the order of the day. But one doesn’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure out who’s the real badass and who’s not between the two protagonists.
They say, being a badass is not an act but a way of life. They say a badass doesn’t lie because a badass doesn’t need to lie. He is brutally honest and has a soft spot for the weak. He is a rugged man but possesses a calm and cool demeanor when dealing with everything in life.
So, between Manny and Money, who do you think is the real badass?
Note: This article can also be found at Now Boxing
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