After news broke that Manny Pacquiao is considering further legal action against rival Floyd Mayweather for sharing a fictional story implicating him in steroid use, fans and experts alike weighed in on the story, either voicing their suspicions of Pacquiao or condemning Mayweather.
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As if to somehow validate sharing an unsolicited and undoubtedly untrue article earlier this week, Mayweather yesterday shared an article in which a genuine medical expert supports his stance:
“Apparently Floyd Mayweather Knows a Thing or Two About PED Testing – http://moneyte.am/fht – Article by Dr. Johnny Benjamin”
In the Huffington Post article, Dr. Benjamin, an Orthopedic Spine Surgeon who also regularly contributes to several MMA sites, supports Mayweather’s stance on random blood testing, and calls the current standard, urine testing, inadequate.
“Therefore from a medical or scientific perspective, Floyd Mayweather is supported in his conclusion that to adequately test for banned substances, blood must be drawn randomly”
“Scheduled sampling and cut-off dates serve only to provide necessary information for unfair manipulation of the system.”
Due in part to the furore surrounding the twice failed negotiations between Mayweather and Pacquiao, during which the debate over Olympic style testing was brought to center stage, a number of athletic commissions have since looked into implementing random blood testing.
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Currently none have changed their standard procedures, it has been alleged partly in some cases due to the cost involved. Advertisement
Mayweather’s stance isn’t universally supported by all medical experts however. Dr. J. Sahi, in a 2009 article from Philboxing pointed out some of the limitations of HGH use in particular, and claimed current testing procedures are therefore still adequate:
“No athletes, trainers and coaches in their right mind will use this drug few days or weeks before the competition. It is useless because it will take several weeks to months to have the desired results. That is why this test is recommended to be used when athletes are out of competition.”
“When using HGH the body also needs more thyroid hormones, insulin, corticosteroids, gonadotropins, estrogens and what a surprise androgens and anabolic steroids. This is also the reason why HGH, when taken alone, is considerably less effective and can only reach its optimum effect by the additive intake of steroids, thyorid hormones, and insulin, in particular. These other drugs can be detected by the urine test then NSAC urine test is already enough for this”
The real issue between Mayweather and Pacquiao however isn’t whether current testing procedures are valid or not, which is up to the much better informed athletic commissions instead of fighters to decide anyway.
The issue is the fact that Mayweather demanded random blood testing only when faced with the opportunity to fight Manny Pacquiao. A fighter who has always tested clean and has never given any reason to be suspected of performance enhanding drug use.
Seemingly the only reason for Mayweather’s assumptions on the matter were the fact that Pacquiao rose through eight weight classes, remaining effective against larger and stronger opponents along the way.
Mayweather himself however achieved a similar feat, starting out his amateur career at 106lbs and eventually winning a world championship at 154lbs.
Furthermore, Mayweather has been sufficiently famous and highly ranked to have insisted on random testing many years ago had he wished it.
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