GOING BY SUPERLATIVES, Floyd Mayweather Sr. sounded more star-struck than normally mad when he claimed Manny Pacquiao must’ve been into steroids.
OK, he did the Pacman grave injustice with that dirty foul.
It was purely rabid how he tried to insinuate that the hard-working Pinoy superhero had cheated to enhance his punching power.
At least Pacquiao responded with magnificent maturity and treated the sting as an insignificant insect bite.
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Needless to say, the dirty dig did not detract from Pacquiao’s total worth.
Nobody takes Floyd Sr. seriously inside the boxing ring and outside of it.
But his latest gimmick, bordering on the deranged, added to his infamy.
In the first place, there was nothing to hide.
The whole world knows how Pacquiao, he with the native-warrior gifts, has developed his super powers.
He’s indeed into “some type of supplements,” but these honestly consisted of determination, dedication to God, people and country and, last but not the least, an incredible appetite for hard work.
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The world need not be told how Pacquiao has strived to treat these God-given gifts sacredly.
Of course, Floyd Sr. likewise need not be told about the fool-proof substance tests boxers are strictly subjected to by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
At least, the state commission was kind enough not to have subjected Pretty Boy Floyd’s old man to a head test.
Not yet, at least.
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Anyway, taken in a positive vein, that thing about steroids could also be counted as a supreme compliment.
It also helped enhance the vocabulary of the wet-market crowd, whose large numbers of Pacquiao devotees converge, rain or shine, to pray and wish their boxing icon the best of everything.
Steroids, these hardy citizens would learn, had caused the disqualification and banning of gold medal winners in several Olympics.
This potent mix of vitamins, alkaloids, secret hormones—also synonymous to sporting anomalies—has been responsible for revolutionary cures in the field of medicine.
This is the same substance they had falsely accused seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong of using.
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Now, if Floyd Mayweather Sr. had suspected Pacquiao of having resorted to the use of strange types of supplements, it should be more out of awe and disbelief.
You wonder why?
The last time Floyd Sr., as trainer, came face-to-face with Pacquiao, the Pinoy hero sent Ricky Hatton into orbit with an asteroid connection to the chin in the second round last May.
That stunning experience had evidently sent Floyd Sr.’s mad, wild thoughts whirling.
The usually peppery trainer, a dockyard barb, was rendered mute.
Anyway, to return the compliment, please share a few lines about the false accuser:
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Steroid and Asteroid
Of all the queer birds I ever did see
Floyd Sr. is the queerest by far to me
He sits all day long composing poetry
But when out of superlatives runs he
Bow, wow, purely rabid, goes Floydy.
