Maybe Floyd Mayweather doesn?t know any more than you or I know. At least that is the official, on-the-record word as of now. When he had to make a settlement with Manny Pacquiao in September, as a response to a defamation suit, they wised to make it very clear that ?they never intended to claim that Manny Pacquiao has used or is using any performance enhancing drugs, nor are they aware of any evidence that Manny Pacquiao has used performance enhancing drugs.?
But hey, I bet that Floyd and his entourage, when they?re not trying to beat the spread on a football or basketball game, still mutter a few things under their breath.
I just glossed over a story on the Internet offering the opinion that Pacquiao is finally talking openly about the issue of steroids ?because he realizes nobody thinks he?s on anything.?
Really? Nobody thinks he is on anything? The guy who wrote that must not talk to too many people who are actually IN boxing, because nothing I have experienced indicates anything better than a split opinion.
Hey, I don?t know that he is and I don?t know that he isn?t. And I doubt anyone inside the game can prove anything. I don?t know that he isn?t just doing a great job of masking it, or that the venues he is fighting in aren?t strict enough to catch something he might be taking.
?In my heart, I know and I believe I have used nothing,? he told the USA Today. ?It?s all God and hard work.??
That?s a curious choice of words, but apparently he figures that powers both natural and, er, ?supernatural,? are quite enough. And clearly he doesn?t mind kicking anyone when they?re down.
Pacquiao uses a reference to Lance Armstrong, who has recently collapsed from public favor in a way which rivals that of Joe Paterno.
When speaking with the USA Today writer, Jon Saraceno, Pacquiao referenced Armstrong when explaining his own rationale for not taking performance enhancers: ?Why use illegal drugs ? steroids ? and ruin your name?,? he asks.
Well, there is an answer to that question. When athletes are using steroids, they have no intention of ruining their name. In fact, the same arrogance that makes them great athletes may be that which convinces them that they are somehow ?bulletproof.? They have no intention of getting caught and every intention of doing it in such a way that they can successfully disguise it from the ?authorities,? whoever those authorities are. In the case of Armstrong, there were a number of authorities, including the United States Anti-Doping Agency, which eventually busted him but good. For Pacquiao, there would be the Nevada Athletic Commission and the Texas commission, which I guess is now known as the ?Texas Combative Sports Program,? and while admitting that I am not an expert on PED?s, I can tell you with at least some degree of confidence that they don?t exactly test for everything under the sun.
Regardless of that, many of us are conversant with the Armstrong story.
There were millions and millions of dollars in endorsements that were reaped, as well an untold amounts of goodwill, and a ?feel-good? story to boot, with the cyclist having beaten testicular cancer even before his run of seven straight Tour de France titles. Though rumors had long swirled, Armstrong and his people had cultivated enough of a public image that many who suggested he had won those titles with the aid of steroids had their own credibility severely questioned.
Endorsements. Goodwill. Rumors. Does any of this sound familiar?
The fact is, the evidence would seem to suggest that Armstrong has gotten away with this for many years, perhaps since all the way back in 1993 in fact, which is a lot longer than Pacquiao has been a pro fighter, and in fact, roughly eight years before Pacquiao came to the United States to pursue greater riches and greater ?crossover? notoriety.
So while no one would have a material case to make against the multiple-division champion, sainthood is a long way off. Let?s just say that there might yet be a ways to go before bringing the jury in.
Armstrong, who faces a lifetime ban from all competition, just filed a suit seeking to block the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) from stripping him of the seven Tour de France titles and banning him from competition. It was thrown out, with harsh words from the judge: ?This Court is not inclined to indulge Armstrong?s desire for publicity, self-aggrandizement, or vilification of Defendants (the USADA).?
Okay, so the guy is still in denial.
But that would be totally in character, wouldn?t it?
And no doubt along the way he has issued many self-righteous statements regarding steroid intake by others.
Of course, those statements would have been secular in nature. Armstrong is widely known to be rather indifferent toward organized religion. In fact, in a reference to his cancer, he was once quoted as saying, ?If there was a god, I?d still have both nuts.?
So while he didn?t mind being treated like a god, Armstrong never really leaned on the Almighty.
No, that would be Manny Pacquiao?s department.
