With the now confirmed bout between Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley on May 7th the old issue of steroids has once again taken center stage to distract the public from the upcoming fight. While the fan waits for the real fight of the century to occur the debate rages about who, what, where and why the bout will or will not occur. The opponents almost need not be mentioned because the world knows one of them is Pacquiao. The other Floyd Mayweather Jr and camp demanding Olympic style drug testing up until almost fight night according to various comments and rumors. The criticism and constant buffeting the pages with cries of coward and let?s have a fight are all well and good when you are sitting in the living room watching on Pay Per View. These two put their lives on the line whenever they enter the boxing ring. Not the same as when most go to work every day. There has been no outcry in the past about steroids because they didn?t exist for these purposes in the old days and nobody really brought it up in these days, except Floyd Mayweather Senior. Good for him. It was no big deal in baseball until Barry Bonds started knocking the ball out of the park. Mark McGwire suspicions didn?t attract as much attention until he admitted usage. Apparently it only draws criticism when someone a little darker that midnight makes an allegation about drugs. It should not be the job of the fighters or trainers or media or average citizen to clean up the sport. If the various commissions and authorities and sanctioning bodies or whoever is in power would institute a universal rule to enforce testing in a modern scientific manner there will be a fight. The public need not wait any longer there will be no need for villains or cowards, business men with calculators and wing tip shoes taking the long way around to a match. If track and field can do it, right down to the point of testing for gender then boxing, where you can get killed should do the same. It is no longer up to Pacquiao or Mayweather to make this fight. It never has been regardless the trainers and promoters and hangers on. The public makes fights only money stands in the way. If it is a matter of blood then science enters the picture. Blood and money are the same in boxing. The more you have to shed the more money you need to make for that sacrifice. Manny Pacquiao is a great champion an apparently humble man with the interests of his sport and constituents at heart but he is still a fighter. An athlete in a sport called the ?sweet science? but there is not much sweet when your head is being banged around. Ask Miguel Cotto or Antonio Margarito or any number of guys that have been on the losing end of Pacquiao fights. Same for Mayweather who has had his share of victories and punching guys around. As we grow old waiting for this match to happen somebody with a pen and paper and some clout in the game can help out. Maybe some old veteran that never threw a punch but cares about the fighter and the sport and the future. They build new software applications every day to track everything. One is always the magic number especially in love and boxing.
