By MANNY PACQUIAO, pacman.craveonline.com
There seems to be concern from numerous members of the sports industry from writers, to reporters, even other athletes, regarding why I am concerned with random blood testing. Here is what I would like to explain for the world to understand.
My concern has never been with someone randomly checking me with regards to blood or urine. I volunteered immediately to have my urine tested anytime someone wanted to, all the way up to the time I am walking into the ring. It was later brought to my attention and the attention of my staff that you can not test for Synthetic Growth Hormone through urine. You could only detect Synthetic Growth Hormone through blood tests. Before all is this blood testing and demands from other people I had never even heard of Synthetic Growth Hormone. I have never seen it before nor have I ever used it.
As I have stated before I have never used anabolic steroids nor do I even know what they look like.
My concern as a fighter is that there should be some limitations and agreements on how much blood they can take from someone prior to a fight. My other concern is how close to the actual fight itself can they take the blood. It is my opinion taking blood from a person can weaken you. I do not want to be in a weakened state when I enter the ring against any fighter.
I view using steroids, synthetic growth hormone, or any other illegal or banned substance as cheating. I would never cheat this sport that I love. I would never cheat the legacies of the great champions I have been blessed to challenge. I would never do anything to cheat such great champions as Miguel Cotto, Ricky Hatton, all of the Mexican Warriors that I have been blessed to go into the ring and do battle with. I believe all of these men to have great honor for boxing, for their country, and for themselves. They are heroes to me. These are people I have great respect for.
There would be no way I would ever cheat them out of what they deserve.
We as boxers risk our lives every time we enter the ring. We risk our health. This is a very dangerous sport. There is nothing I would do to make me have an unfair advantage to my opposition. This would not only be unfair to their legacy, but to their health, which could cause permanent damage. I would not want to hurt anyone nor would I want to cause pain to their families.
PLENTY MORE FROM PACQUIAO... To read the rest of this statement from Manny Pacquiao, please visit CraveOnline by clicking this LINK (The rest of Pacquiao’s Statement.)
Source: pacman.craveonline.com
Friday 1 January 2010
Paul Malignaggi Explains Why He Thinks Manny Has Used PEDs -- The Sweet Science
By Michael Woods, The Sweet Science
In theory and in practice I am vehemently opposed to people tossing out unfounded allegations against someone. Supply evidence, then we can talk. But saying someone is using steroids, or EPO, or HGH, based on a theory, or your gut instinct....I have to consider, what if the allegation were thrown at me, and I was 100% innocent. I'd be mightily irked. And so too would you be.
Manny Pacquaio has been hammered from all sides with folks insinuating and coming right out with the contention that they think he's been cheating, that he's been using illegal performance enhancers to give him an edge in competition. Floyd Mayweather Sr, Paulie Malignaggi, Miguel Cotto and Kermit Cintron have either accused Manny, or insinuated that he's been using PEDs. One has to wonder, where's all this smoke coming from? Is it possible that there's fire lurking? That these folks aren't just lobbing unfounded barbs at Manny, that their allegations and hints aren't just sour grapes, or posturing, or a ploy to lure Manny into a fight?
By and large, there hasn't been much in the way of coverage from the standpoint of: what if Manny is using PEDs, or was using PEDs? I think that is rightly so; I'd be more comfortable if none of us trafficked in the innuendo and speculation, and worked within the realm of evidence, and facts. But it's out there, and a topic of conversation and speculation. Perhaps it's a symptom and sign of the times we live in...
TSS reached out to Malignaggi, just off a solid win in his Dec. 12 rematch with Juan Diaz. The Brooklyn-based pugilist has never been shy about speaking his peace (I picture him exiting his mom's womb and barking at the labor and delivery crew to get the room cleaned up, stat!), and he shared with TSS what he bases his allegations, which he's careful to label opinion, upon.
First off, Malignaggi is of the belief that if the Pacquiao-Mayweather negotiations are at a fatal impasse, Yuri Foreman, and not he, will get the coveted date with Pacquiao. Malignaggi has been mentioned as stand-in for Mayweather.
He started off by insisting that " I have nothing against Pacquiao" but then went from mellow to madman in a 30 second span.
First off, the boxer wonders why Team Pacquiao isn't going after big-time newspapers, with deep pocketed owners, for libel, for insinuating that Pacquiao is drug cheat.
"If Pacquiao's so sue happy, why not sue the New York Daily News?" he asked. "Maybe they know the steroid allegations are true."
By and large, Malignaggi thinks it is impossible, utterly impossible, for a boxer to put on 15 or more pounds between March 15, 2008, when he fought Juan Manuel Marquez and weighed 129 pounds at the weigh in, and Nov. 14, 2009 when he fought Miguel Cotto and was 144 pounds at the weigh in, and more on fight night.
"It's not natural looking," Malignaggi said. But, I countered, what if Manny's supremely blessed, that unlike some other fighters who go up in weight, and look a bit bloated, and lack definition, he's just a special creature?
"He's not supremely blessed," Maliganngi said. "I know body builders. They can't put on 17 or whatever pounds of muscle in a year. It's not doable, in my opinion. These are my speculations, my opinions based on certain factual evidence. Does his weight gain look normal to you? And his head looks like it has blown up in size, too."
I offered to Malignaggi that perhaps we should be attacking the system, if we believe it to be lacking, rather than the individual.
"We can blame the system a little bit, but if you were Manny, wouldn't you want to leave no doubt? Or speculation?" said Maliganngi, who believes that by not agreeing to the terms set forth by Team Mayweather, and opposing a blood test within 30 days of the bout, Pacquaio appears guilty.
Pacquiao has agreed to take 3 blood tests: the first during the week of the kickoff news conference in early January, the second random test to be conducted no later than 30 days before the fight, and a final test after the bout. A video making the rounds from the HBO 24/7 series shows Pacquiao submitting to a blood test two or three weeks before he was due to fight Ricky Hatton, and that has cast doubt on Team Pacquiao's stance that Manny is disinclined to get a blood test too close to a bout, for fear he may be weakened. Originally, it was reported in error that that test was taken 14 days before the Hatton bout, but subsequent reports pegged the test as being taken 24 days before the scrap. Malignaggi feels Pacquiao has been caught lying, that the report from Team Pacquiao that he "has difficulty taking blood" is a cover story. "Why is he effing lying?" Malignaggi said, heatedly.
The New Yorker doesn't believe too many fighters in the lighter weight classes are using PEDs, but thinks usage isn't uncommon in the heavyweight division. "That's hard to do and make weight," he said.
The question is asked of Malignaggi: why does the issue make him so steamed?
"I don't like cheaters," he said. "This is not baseball. You're not just hitting home runs. You have to worry about peoples' lives. Miguel Cotto in my opinion has been beaten by two cheaters. Manny if he's cheating is taking away from guys who are doing things the right way. His team is reneging on their words."
And what if you're wrong, Malignaggi? What if Manny is clean, and you are hurting his rep with these allegations?
"I bet everything I own that I'm not," he said. "But we'll never find out. Hey, I would take the test in a heartbeat. I would want people to know I'm clean. He wants to leave doubts!?? His entire legacy is being questioned, he's willing to hurt his legacy and leave $40 million on the table?"
Maliganngi, after reminding TSS that he was correct in predicting he'd be gamed by judges in the first fight with Diaz, insisted that he isn't singling out Pacquiao for a personal vendetta. ""I've never had anything against him. But that's enough now. I call it like I see it."
What about those who'd say he's just trying to anger Pacquiao, to lure him into a fight?
"No. I expected he'd take the random tests to get this fight. No way I thought he'd throw away everything. That blew me away. It was cool to have my name mentioned."
Malignaggi thinks the boxing media has dropped the ball, and not exercised due diligence in examining the possibility that Manny has used PEDs.
"I understand most people like Manny, and not Floyd. Just cause that's the case doesn't mean Manny might not be cheating. It's nothing to do with him personally. But I call a spade a spade. Too many people avoid the possibilities because Manny's a likable person. He's got that front, his country loves him. That front works like crazy. Floyd plays the bad guy, but he's natural. Just don't downplay the fact that Manny might be cheating. You have to open your eyes and at least be willing to look at it. This is bigger than me. The fact that the fight is not being made, you have to question the integrity of Pacquiao."
Malignaggi then offered an analogy to the Manny-refusing-to-be-subjected-to multiple-random-drug-tests prior-to-a-fight-with-Mayweather deal. "It reminds me of the drunk guy who's pulled over at 3 AM. He has a field sobriety test, the cop knows he's drunk, he looks and acts drunk. But he refuses a breathalyzer test. That don't mean the cop don't haul him to the police station."
I reiterate...I don't think anyone should be casting aspersions based on circumstantial evidence. But with so many people ganging up on Manny, I think fight fans are owed some details on why people are accusing Pacman of using PEDs.
Source: thesweetscience.com
In theory and in practice I am vehemently opposed to people tossing out unfounded allegations against someone. Supply evidence, then we can talk. But saying someone is using steroids, or EPO, or HGH, based on a theory, or your gut instinct....I have to consider, what if the allegation were thrown at me, and I was 100% innocent. I'd be mightily irked. And so too would you be.
Manny Pacquaio has been hammered from all sides with folks insinuating and coming right out with the contention that they think he's been cheating, that he's been using illegal performance enhancers to give him an edge in competition. Floyd Mayweather Sr, Paulie Malignaggi, Miguel Cotto and Kermit Cintron have either accused Manny, or insinuated that he's been using PEDs. One has to wonder, where's all this smoke coming from? Is it possible that there's fire lurking? That these folks aren't just lobbing unfounded barbs at Manny, that their allegations and hints aren't just sour grapes, or posturing, or a ploy to lure Manny into a fight?
By and large, there hasn't been much in the way of coverage from the standpoint of: what if Manny is using PEDs, or was using PEDs? I think that is rightly so; I'd be more comfortable if none of us trafficked in the innuendo and speculation, and worked within the realm of evidence, and facts. But it's out there, and a topic of conversation and speculation. Perhaps it's a symptom and sign of the times we live in...
TSS reached out to Malignaggi, just off a solid win in his Dec. 12 rematch with Juan Diaz. The Brooklyn-based pugilist has never been shy about speaking his peace (I picture him exiting his mom's womb and barking at the labor and delivery crew to get the room cleaned up, stat!), and he shared with TSS what he bases his allegations, which he's careful to label opinion, upon.
First off, Malignaggi is of the belief that if the Pacquiao-Mayweather negotiations are at a fatal impasse, Yuri Foreman, and not he, will get the coveted date with Pacquiao. Malignaggi has been mentioned as stand-in for Mayweather.
He started off by insisting that " I have nothing against Pacquiao" but then went from mellow to madman in a 30 second span.
First off, the boxer wonders why Team Pacquiao isn't going after big-time newspapers, with deep pocketed owners, for libel, for insinuating that Pacquiao is drug cheat.
"If Pacquiao's so sue happy, why not sue the New York Daily News?" he asked. "Maybe they know the steroid allegations are true."
By and large, Malignaggi thinks it is impossible, utterly impossible, for a boxer to put on 15 or more pounds between March 15, 2008, when he fought Juan Manuel Marquez and weighed 129 pounds at the weigh in, and Nov. 14, 2009 when he fought Miguel Cotto and was 144 pounds at the weigh in, and more on fight night.
"It's not natural looking," Malignaggi said. But, I countered, what if Manny's supremely blessed, that unlike some other fighters who go up in weight, and look a bit bloated, and lack definition, he's just a special creature?
"He's not supremely blessed," Maliganngi said. "I know body builders. They can't put on 17 or whatever pounds of muscle in a year. It's not doable, in my opinion. These are my speculations, my opinions based on certain factual evidence. Does his weight gain look normal to you? And his head looks like it has blown up in size, too."
I offered to Malignaggi that perhaps we should be attacking the system, if we believe it to be lacking, rather than the individual.
"We can blame the system a little bit, but if you were Manny, wouldn't you want to leave no doubt? Or speculation?" said Maliganngi, who believes that by not agreeing to the terms set forth by Team Mayweather, and opposing a blood test within 30 days of the bout, Pacquaio appears guilty.
Pacquiao has agreed to take 3 blood tests: the first during the week of the kickoff news conference in early January, the second random test to be conducted no later than 30 days before the fight, and a final test after the bout. A video making the rounds from the HBO 24/7 series shows Pacquiao submitting to a blood test two or three weeks before he was due to fight Ricky Hatton, and that has cast doubt on Team Pacquiao's stance that Manny is disinclined to get a blood test too close to a bout, for fear he may be weakened. Originally, it was reported in error that that test was taken 14 days before the Hatton bout, but subsequent reports pegged the test as being taken 24 days before the scrap. Malignaggi feels Pacquiao has been caught lying, that the report from Team Pacquiao that he "has difficulty taking blood" is a cover story. "Why is he effing lying?" Malignaggi said, heatedly.
The New Yorker doesn't believe too many fighters in the lighter weight classes are using PEDs, but thinks usage isn't uncommon in the heavyweight division. "That's hard to do and make weight," he said.
The question is asked of Malignaggi: why does the issue make him so steamed?
"I don't like cheaters," he said. "This is not baseball. You're not just hitting home runs. You have to worry about peoples' lives. Miguel Cotto in my opinion has been beaten by two cheaters. Manny if he's cheating is taking away from guys who are doing things the right way. His team is reneging on their words."
And what if you're wrong, Malignaggi? What if Manny is clean, and you are hurting his rep with these allegations?
"I bet everything I own that I'm not," he said. "But we'll never find out. Hey, I would take the test in a heartbeat. I would want people to know I'm clean. He wants to leave doubts!?? His entire legacy is being questioned, he's willing to hurt his legacy and leave $40 million on the table?"
Maliganngi, after reminding TSS that he was correct in predicting he'd be gamed by judges in the first fight with Diaz, insisted that he isn't singling out Pacquiao for a personal vendetta. ""I've never had anything against him. But that's enough now. I call it like I see it."
What about those who'd say he's just trying to anger Pacquiao, to lure him into a fight?
"No. I expected he'd take the random tests to get this fight. No way I thought he'd throw away everything. That blew me away. It was cool to have my name mentioned."
Malignaggi thinks the boxing media has dropped the ball, and not exercised due diligence in examining the possibility that Manny has used PEDs.
"I understand most people like Manny, and not Floyd. Just cause that's the case doesn't mean Manny might not be cheating. It's nothing to do with him personally. But I call a spade a spade. Too many people avoid the possibilities because Manny's a likable person. He's got that front, his country loves him. That front works like crazy. Floyd plays the bad guy, but he's natural. Just don't downplay the fact that Manny might be cheating. You have to open your eyes and at least be willing to look at it. This is bigger than me. The fact that the fight is not being made, you have to question the integrity of Pacquiao."
Malignaggi then offered an analogy to the Manny-refusing-to-be-subjected-to multiple-random-drug-tests prior-to-a-fight-with-Mayweather deal. "It reminds me of the drunk guy who's pulled over at 3 AM. He has a field sobriety test, the cop knows he's drunk, he looks and acts drunk. But he refuses a breathalyzer test. That don't mean the cop don't haul him to the police station."
I reiterate...I don't think anyone should be casting aspersions based on circumstantial evidence. But with so many people ganging up on Manny, I think fight fans are owed some details on why people are accusing Pacman of using PEDs.
Source: thesweetscience.com
No One Is Leaving This Stage Of Negotiations Looking GOLDEN -- The Sweet Science
By George Kimball, The Sweet Science
Early in his political career, the young Lyndon Baines Johnson served as a congressional aide to Rep. Richard Kleberg, the wealthy owner of the King Ranch who was elected to seven consecutive terms in the House of Representatives, at least in part because he often ran unopposed.
One year an upstart rival politician we'll call Joe Bob had the temerity to challenge Kleberg in the Democratic primary, resulting in the convocation of the Texas congressman's staff to plot an election strategy. Several ideas were kicked around before Kleberg himself came up with a brainstorm.
"Why don't we start a rumor that he [copulates with] sheep?" proposed the politician.
This was a bit over the top, even for Lyndon Johnson. The future president leapt to his feet and said, incredulously, "But you know Joe Bob don't [copulate with] sheep!"
"Yeah," replied the congressman, "but watch what happens when the son of a bitch has to stand up and deny it!"
******
Events of the past week or two have seen the Floyd Mayweather camp adopt a similar tactic with regard to Manny Pacquiao. But if introducing what would appear to be a red-herring issue -- the debate over drug-testing procedures -- to the negotiating process was intended as a negotiating ploy, it would appear for the moment to have backfired. The idea might have been to force Pacquiao to go on the defensive, but Pac-Man instead responded with his stock in trade, the counterpunch -- in this case the multi-million dollar defamation suit he filed against the Mayweathers, pere et fils,, with the U.S. District Court in Las Vegas on Wednesday.
In boxing even more than in life, you never say never, but you'd have to say that Pacquiao-Mayweather is a dead issue right now, at least in its March 13 incarnation. Bob Arum says Pacquiao is prepared to move along to another opponent, and Mayweather is supposedly looking at Matthew Hatton in England.
We'll believe that when we see it, for at least three reasons: (1) There would hardly seem to be enough money in that one to make it worth Floyd's time, (2) He's going to have to put so much into preparing a defense to this lawsuit that he mightn't have time to train and (3) He'd get a better workout if he stayed in Vegas and boxed one of Uncle Roger's girl opponents.
*****
Colleagues on this site have already done a good job of dissecting this process. Ron Borges is absolutely correct in noting that in the midst of all the posturing that's gone on, you'd be a fool to accept at face value anything coming out of any of the parties' mouths. And Frank Lotierzo is spot on in noting that if you had absolutely no desire to actually get in the ring with Manny Pacquiao but were still looking to save face, you'd do pretty much exactly what Mayweather has done. Which is to say, talk tough while you get others to run interference with a series of actions seemingly calculated to ensure that the fight doesn't come off.
But left almost unscathed in all of this heretofore has been the convoluted role played by Golden Boy -- by CEO Richard Schaefer, by the company's namesake Oscar the Blogger, GBP's subsidiary enterprise, The Ring, and at least a few of the lap-dogs and lackeys whose favor GPB has cultivated elsewhere in the media.
In late March of 2008, Shane Mosley and Zab Judah appeared at a New York press conference to announce a fight between them in Las Vegas two months later. As it happened, the BALCO trial had gotten underway out in California that week. That day I sat with Judah and his attorney Richard Shinefield as they explained that they intended to ask that both boxers agree to blood testing in the runup to the fight. Citing Mosley's history with BALCO and its products The Cream and The Clear (which Shane claimed Victor Conte had slipped him when he wasn't looking), Shinefield and Zab, noting that Nevada drug tests were limited to urinalysis, proposed that the supplementary tests be administered by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Want to know what Richard Schaefer's response to that was?
"Whatever tests [the NSAC] wants them to take, we will submit to, but we are not going to do other tests than the Nevada commission requires," said Schaefer. "The fact is, Shane is not a cheater and he does not need to be treated like one."
But the fact is that Mosley had a confirmed history as a cheater. Manny Pacquiao does not. Yet in the absence of a scintilla of evidence or probable cause, less than two years later Schaefer was howling that the very integrity of the sport would be at risk unless Pacquiao submitted to precisely the same sort of testing he had rejected for Mosley.
And you thought it was Arum who was famous for saying "Yeah, but yesterday I was lying. Today I'm telling the truth!"
Schaefer, by the way, defended his 180-degree turnabout by saying he is now better educated on the issue. He couldn't resist aiming a harpoon at the media by adding that many sportswriters "don't know the difference between blood and urine testing."
Don't know how to break this to you, Richard, but sportswriters, who have had to deal with this stuff for the past twenty years, probably know more about drug-testing procedures than any other group you could name.
*****
Now, the reasonable assumption would be that by assuming the role of the point man in this unseemly mess, Schaefer was insulating his boss (De La Hoya) and his fighter (PBF) by keeping their fingerprints off it while he made a fool of himself publicly conducting this snide little campaign.
And yes, Money would have stayed out of the line of fire had not a two-month old, expletive-filled rant in which he described the Philippines as the world's foremost producer of performance-enhancing drugs not exploded on the internet at the most inopportune moment. That the lawsuit was filed less than 24 hours after "Floyd Meets the Rugged Man" overtook the Tiger Watch probably wasn't a coincidence.
(It is interesting that the suit also named Floyd Sr. as a defendant, but not Schaefer or Oscar. If Senior got sued every time he ran his mouth he'd spend even more time in court now than he did in his dope-dealing days. Maybe Freddie Roach insisted that Pacquiao add Senior's name to the Manny-Money suit.)
And we're assuming that this Dan Petrocelli, the lawyer who filed Pacquiao's suit, knows what he's doing, because if there were an even one-zillionth chance that somebody could credibly link Manny to PEDs, then it was a pretty dumb thing to do. You could ask Roger Clemens about that. Clemens' transformation from Hall of Famer-in-waiting to nationwide laughingstock didn't come from the Mitchell Report. It came from his wrongheaded decision to file a lawsuit against Brian McNamee, which in turn threw everything open to the discovery process.
*****
De La Hoya, in the meantime, was playing both sides of the fence. He let Schaefer play Bad Cop as he distanced himself from the negotiating process, but simultaneously was sniping away at Pacquiao from his First Amendment-protected perch as a Ring.com blogger.
"If Pacquiao, the toughest guy on the planet, is afraid of needles and having a few tablespoons of blood drawn from his system, then something is wrong... I'm just saying that now people have to wonder: 'Why doesn't he want to do this?' Why is [blood testing] such a big deal?' wrote Oscar the Blogger. "A lot of eyebrows have been raised. And this is not good."
Ask yourself this: Exactly what caused those eyebrows to be raised, other than the innuendo coming straight from Oscar's company?
Providing De La Hoya with a forum from which to dispense propaganda only begins to illustrate the hopelessly compromised position from which The Ring continues to operate. They might as well give Schaefer a column, too, while they're at it.
Nearly seven months have elapsed since we last visited the Ring/Golden Boy relationship, and at the risk of winding Nigel up, it might be useful here to note that in the midst of last June's discourse, The Ring's editor offered a laundry list of the magazine's covers since the De La Hoya takeover as a demonstration of Golden Boy's restraint.
After listing them, Nigel Collins wrote "that's 28 covers over the course of 21 issues, of which Top Rank had 12 fighters, as opposed to eight for Golden Boy and eight for other promotional entities. Obviously, The Ring has shown no bias to Golden Boy when it comes to magazine covers."
It had never even been suggested that the conflict of interest extended to the magazine playing favorites in choosing its cover subjects, but since Nigel brought it up it is probably worth noting now that of those eight covers given over to "other promotional entities," two were of David Haye, whose promoter was properly listed as "Hayemaker," but who had also signed a promotional deal with Golden Boy in May of 2008. (Just last month GBP issued a release in De La Hoya's name in which it described itself as "Golden Boy Promotions, the United States promoter of World Boxing Association Heavyweight World Champion David Haye.")
And even more to the point, in four other issues Nigel Collins offered in evidence the cover subject was Floyd Mayweather (Independent), although what has transpired with regard to the Pacquiao fight doesn't make Money look very independent at all, does it?
We don't regularly keep track of these things, but in making sure we didn't misquote Oscar's Blog we also came across a representation of the January 2010 issue on The Ring's website. The picture on the cover of the Bible of Boxing is of the Golden Boy himself, and the cover story "De La Hoya: The Retirement Interview."
Wow! Now there's a hot topic for crusading journalists.
Source: thesweetscience.com
Early in his political career, the young Lyndon Baines Johnson served as a congressional aide to Rep. Richard Kleberg, the wealthy owner of the King Ranch who was elected to seven consecutive terms in the House of Representatives, at least in part because he often ran unopposed.
One year an upstart rival politician we'll call Joe Bob had the temerity to challenge Kleberg in the Democratic primary, resulting in the convocation of the Texas congressman's staff to plot an election strategy. Several ideas were kicked around before Kleberg himself came up with a brainstorm.
"Why don't we start a rumor that he [copulates with] sheep?" proposed the politician.
This was a bit over the top, even for Lyndon Johnson. The future president leapt to his feet and said, incredulously, "But you know Joe Bob don't [copulate with] sheep!"
"Yeah," replied the congressman, "but watch what happens when the son of a bitch has to stand up and deny it!"
******
Events of the past week or two have seen the Floyd Mayweather camp adopt a similar tactic with regard to Manny Pacquiao. But if introducing what would appear to be a red-herring issue -- the debate over drug-testing procedures -- to the negotiating process was intended as a negotiating ploy, it would appear for the moment to have backfired. The idea might have been to force Pacquiao to go on the defensive, but Pac-Man instead responded with his stock in trade, the counterpunch -- in this case the multi-million dollar defamation suit he filed against the Mayweathers, pere et fils,, with the U.S. District Court in Las Vegas on Wednesday.
In boxing even more than in life, you never say never, but you'd have to say that Pacquiao-Mayweather is a dead issue right now, at least in its March 13 incarnation. Bob Arum says Pacquiao is prepared to move along to another opponent, and Mayweather is supposedly looking at Matthew Hatton in England.
We'll believe that when we see it, for at least three reasons: (1) There would hardly seem to be enough money in that one to make it worth Floyd's time, (2) He's going to have to put so much into preparing a defense to this lawsuit that he mightn't have time to train and (3) He'd get a better workout if he stayed in Vegas and boxed one of Uncle Roger's girl opponents.
*****
Colleagues on this site have already done a good job of dissecting this process. Ron Borges is absolutely correct in noting that in the midst of all the posturing that's gone on, you'd be a fool to accept at face value anything coming out of any of the parties' mouths. And Frank Lotierzo is spot on in noting that if you had absolutely no desire to actually get in the ring with Manny Pacquiao but were still looking to save face, you'd do pretty much exactly what Mayweather has done. Which is to say, talk tough while you get others to run interference with a series of actions seemingly calculated to ensure that the fight doesn't come off.
But left almost unscathed in all of this heretofore has been the convoluted role played by Golden Boy -- by CEO Richard Schaefer, by the company's namesake Oscar the Blogger, GBP's subsidiary enterprise, The Ring, and at least a few of the lap-dogs and lackeys whose favor GPB has cultivated elsewhere in the media.
In late March of 2008, Shane Mosley and Zab Judah appeared at a New York press conference to announce a fight between them in Las Vegas two months later. As it happened, the BALCO trial had gotten underway out in California that week. That day I sat with Judah and his attorney Richard Shinefield as they explained that they intended to ask that both boxers agree to blood testing in the runup to the fight. Citing Mosley's history with BALCO and its products The Cream and The Clear (which Shane claimed Victor Conte had slipped him when he wasn't looking), Shinefield and Zab, noting that Nevada drug tests were limited to urinalysis, proposed that the supplementary tests be administered by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Want to know what Richard Schaefer's response to that was?
"Whatever tests [the NSAC] wants them to take, we will submit to, but we are not going to do other tests than the Nevada commission requires," said Schaefer. "The fact is, Shane is not a cheater and he does not need to be treated like one."
But the fact is that Mosley had a confirmed history as a cheater. Manny Pacquiao does not. Yet in the absence of a scintilla of evidence or probable cause, less than two years later Schaefer was howling that the very integrity of the sport would be at risk unless Pacquiao submitted to precisely the same sort of testing he had rejected for Mosley.
And you thought it was Arum who was famous for saying "Yeah, but yesterday I was lying. Today I'm telling the truth!"
Schaefer, by the way, defended his 180-degree turnabout by saying he is now better educated on the issue. He couldn't resist aiming a harpoon at the media by adding that many sportswriters "don't know the difference between blood and urine testing."
Don't know how to break this to you, Richard, but sportswriters, who have had to deal with this stuff for the past twenty years, probably know more about drug-testing procedures than any other group you could name.
*****
Now, the reasonable assumption would be that by assuming the role of the point man in this unseemly mess, Schaefer was insulating his boss (De La Hoya) and his fighter (PBF) by keeping their fingerprints off it while he made a fool of himself publicly conducting this snide little campaign.
And yes, Money would have stayed out of the line of fire had not a two-month old, expletive-filled rant in which he described the Philippines as the world's foremost producer of performance-enhancing drugs not exploded on the internet at the most inopportune moment. That the lawsuit was filed less than 24 hours after "Floyd Meets the Rugged Man" overtook the Tiger Watch probably wasn't a coincidence.
(It is interesting that the suit also named Floyd Sr. as a defendant, but not Schaefer or Oscar. If Senior got sued every time he ran his mouth he'd spend even more time in court now than he did in his dope-dealing days. Maybe Freddie Roach insisted that Pacquiao add Senior's name to the Manny-Money suit.)
And we're assuming that this Dan Petrocelli, the lawyer who filed Pacquiao's suit, knows what he's doing, because if there were an even one-zillionth chance that somebody could credibly link Manny to PEDs, then it was a pretty dumb thing to do. You could ask Roger Clemens about that. Clemens' transformation from Hall of Famer-in-waiting to nationwide laughingstock didn't come from the Mitchell Report. It came from his wrongheaded decision to file a lawsuit against Brian McNamee, which in turn threw everything open to the discovery process.
*****
De La Hoya, in the meantime, was playing both sides of the fence. He let Schaefer play Bad Cop as he distanced himself from the negotiating process, but simultaneously was sniping away at Pacquiao from his First Amendment-protected perch as a Ring.com blogger.
"If Pacquiao, the toughest guy on the planet, is afraid of needles and having a few tablespoons of blood drawn from his system, then something is wrong... I'm just saying that now people have to wonder: 'Why doesn't he want to do this?' Why is [blood testing] such a big deal?' wrote Oscar the Blogger. "A lot of eyebrows have been raised. And this is not good."
Ask yourself this: Exactly what caused those eyebrows to be raised, other than the innuendo coming straight from Oscar's company?
Providing De La Hoya with a forum from which to dispense propaganda only begins to illustrate the hopelessly compromised position from which The Ring continues to operate. They might as well give Schaefer a column, too, while they're at it.
Nearly seven months have elapsed since we last visited the Ring/Golden Boy relationship, and at the risk of winding Nigel up, it might be useful here to note that in the midst of last June's discourse, The Ring's editor offered a laundry list of the magazine's covers since the De La Hoya takeover as a demonstration of Golden Boy's restraint.
After listing them, Nigel Collins wrote "that's 28 covers over the course of 21 issues, of which Top Rank had 12 fighters, as opposed to eight for Golden Boy and eight for other promotional entities. Obviously, The Ring has shown no bias to Golden Boy when it comes to magazine covers."
It had never even been suggested that the conflict of interest extended to the magazine playing favorites in choosing its cover subjects, but since Nigel brought it up it is probably worth noting now that of those eight covers given over to "other promotional entities," two were of David Haye, whose promoter was properly listed as "Hayemaker," but who had also signed a promotional deal with Golden Boy in May of 2008. (Just last month GBP issued a release in De La Hoya's name in which it described itself as "Golden Boy Promotions, the United States promoter of World Boxing Association Heavyweight World Champion David Haye.")
And even more to the point, in four other issues Nigel Collins offered in evidence the cover subject was Floyd Mayweather (Independent), although what has transpired with regard to the Pacquiao fight doesn't make Money look very independent at all, does it?
We don't regularly keep track of these things, but in making sure we didn't misquote Oscar's Blog we also came across a representation of the January 2010 issue on The Ring's website. The picture on the cover of the Bible of Boxing is of the Golden Boy himself, and the cover story "De La Hoya: The Retirement Interview."
Wow! Now there's a hot topic for crusading journalists.
Source: thesweetscience.com
Don't blame Floyd for Pacquiao's reticence -- Miami Herald
By Lyle Fitzsimmons, Sports Network
My colleagues in the business have theirs.
I have mine.
And as anyone who's consistently read my stuff can tell you, I'm a Floyd Mayweather Jr. guy.
In 30-plus years as a fan, he's as good as I've seen. And though his personal brand of cockiness tends to rub people the wrong way, I sort of like it. For the same reasons I liked Deion Sanders when he was picking off passes and high-stepping for the 49ers and Cowboys, I suppose.
He was the best in the business and he didn't mind telling you.
In an activity like boxing -- or football, in Deion's case -- where the guys with the big mouths have to stand within arm's length of the guys they trash, I say let them talk. The ones who are good quickly earn the right to keep talking. And the ones who are nothing but talk quickly vanish.
But my fandom doesn't take away my credibility as a journalist, as 21 years of bosses would tell you. Nor does it mean I won't take "Money" to task when it's warranted, as my call for him to be DQ'd after the in-ring theatrics with Zab Judah a few years back clearly indicates.
What it does tend to mean is whenever an item involving Mayweather arises, people assume I'll take his side. And if I do indeed see things his way, they assume any argument I might make -- no matter how logical in nature -- is driven by that favoritism rather than fact.
It's nonsense. But it's predictable.
So, even as I write this on an overcast morning, I expect follow-up commentary on boards and inboxes to lean toward the "you're a nuthugger/why do you have a job" norms of the past. And hey, maybe a random smart-ass blogger short on ideas will take a shot as well.
It's all part of the territory. And it doesn't bother me in the least.
In fact, I sort of like it, too.
Which all leads me to this week's conversation starter...
It's unquestionably Manny Pacquiao -- not Floyd Mayweather Jr. -- who's at fault for moving toward an impending Las Vegas prom date with Paulie Malignaggi or Yuri Foreman come springtime, rather than a super fight with Pretty Boy Floyd.
But before Pac and Co. get the lawyers ready for another suit, however, let me be clear.
I have no reason to believe Manny has ever taken steroids or any other illegal substances. I'm convinced his exploits in the ring over the past several months -- many of them historic in magnitude -- were the product of talent rather than prescription. No defamation of any sort is intended.
Still, I'm not the guy in there taking punches from him.
And if I am Floyd Mayweather or anyone else, I want to be assured beyond the shadow of doubt that my opponent has submitted -- along with me -- to the most stringent and advanced battery of tests before he lays a glove on me. Not just a month in advance, but a week and a day as well.
Hell, test me in the ring between rounds, too, if you'd like.
Nothing to hide? Nothing to fear.
Let's remember, Pacquiao was a flyweight not all that long ago. He's added what appears to be 40 pounds of muscle to his frame -- nearly 40 percent of what had been his body weight -- and is exchanging punches with guys who as recently as two years ago were considered mismatches.
If this were a baseball player, the media would be at least casually interested.
If it were a baseball player the media and fans didn't seem to like -- Barry Bonds, for example -- the casual interest would go a tad further. And if it were Mayweather claiming "superstition" or "disrespect" as hollow reasons for backing away from the biggest fight ever, the mobs would be lining the streets.
It shouldn't make any difference that Pacquiao is popular.
And it shouldn't matter that Floyd and his family circus are villains.
In this case, right is right.
More so than baseball or other sports, making sure all is fair in boxing is vital. People can die in there. And a suspension after the fact would be a hollow salve for a beaten foe whose career is compromised through dubious tactics.
Remember, a pristine past doesn't always guarantee fair play in the future.
Just ask Antonio Margarito. Or Luis Resto.
No one suspected them before their incidents, but the sport is better off because of increased examination -- paranoia, perhaps -- that makes such dalliances more difficult to repeat.
And just because no one's asked for broad drug tests before doesn't mean they're a bad thing.
After all, it's not as if a competitive advantage is being requested.
It's not as if Mayweather asked for a 30-foot ring, pleaded he be allowed to wear headgear or demanded a reigning and defending champion come in two pounds lighter than his weight class allowed. That, understandably, would be cause for alarm.
Instead, he'd undergo the same tests as Pacquiao. Endure the same painful pin prick. Risk the same short-term arm soreness. And in the end, get the same Fig Newton cookie as reward.
It's a small price to make sure everything's on the up and up. For everyone.
Yet Pacquiao balks at testing and is given a pass, while Mayweather is again branded as the guy who avoids tough fights in the interest of protecting his record -- by the very promoter who not too long ago was favorably comparing him to Ray Leonard.
I don't care whose side you're on, that's just baloney.
And if Manny is really so upset at Floyd calling the shots, I've got a simple remedy.
Block the exit strategy.
Surrender this battle to win the war. For the sport. For the fans. For your bank account.
Take the needle in the arm. Apply a Band-Aid and rest for a bit.
Then get him in the ring for 36 minutes. And give him the beating of his life to remove any doubt about who's the best pound-for-pound property in the sport today.
That just might make him, Floyd Sr. and Uncle Roger go away for good.
Because beating Foreman, Malignaggi or any other imposter -- in spite of Arum's promotional revisionist history and Team Pac's "we're being persecuted" blather -- just won't get it done.
This week's title-fight schedule:
No fights scheduled.
Happy 2010!
Lyle Fitzsimmons is an award-winning 21-year sports journalist, a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and willing to undergo random tests to ensure he's not a blood relative of any member of the Mayweather clan. Reach him at fitzbitz@msn.com , follow him at twitter.com/fitzbitz or read him at fitzbitzonfights.wordpress.com.
Source: miamiherald.com
My colleagues in the business have theirs.
I have mine.
And as anyone who's consistently read my stuff can tell you, I'm a Floyd Mayweather Jr. guy.
In 30-plus years as a fan, he's as good as I've seen. And though his personal brand of cockiness tends to rub people the wrong way, I sort of like it. For the same reasons I liked Deion Sanders when he was picking off passes and high-stepping for the 49ers and Cowboys, I suppose.
He was the best in the business and he didn't mind telling you.
In an activity like boxing -- or football, in Deion's case -- where the guys with the big mouths have to stand within arm's length of the guys they trash, I say let them talk. The ones who are good quickly earn the right to keep talking. And the ones who are nothing but talk quickly vanish.
But my fandom doesn't take away my credibility as a journalist, as 21 years of bosses would tell you. Nor does it mean I won't take "Money" to task when it's warranted, as my call for him to be DQ'd after the in-ring theatrics with Zab Judah a few years back clearly indicates.
What it does tend to mean is whenever an item involving Mayweather arises, people assume I'll take his side. And if I do indeed see things his way, they assume any argument I might make -- no matter how logical in nature -- is driven by that favoritism rather than fact.
It's nonsense. But it's predictable.
So, even as I write this on an overcast morning, I expect follow-up commentary on boards and inboxes to lean toward the "you're a nuthugger/why do you have a job" norms of the past. And hey, maybe a random smart-ass blogger short on ideas will take a shot as well.
It's all part of the territory. And it doesn't bother me in the least.
In fact, I sort of like it, too.
Which all leads me to this week's conversation starter...
It's unquestionably Manny Pacquiao -- not Floyd Mayweather Jr. -- who's at fault for moving toward an impending Las Vegas prom date with Paulie Malignaggi or Yuri Foreman come springtime, rather than a super fight with Pretty Boy Floyd.
But before Pac and Co. get the lawyers ready for another suit, however, let me be clear.
I have no reason to believe Manny has ever taken steroids or any other illegal substances. I'm convinced his exploits in the ring over the past several months -- many of them historic in magnitude -- were the product of talent rather than prescription. No defamation of any sort is intended.
Still, I'm not the guy in there taking punches from him.
And if I am Floyd Mayweather or anyone else, I want to be assured beyond the shadow of doubt that my opponent has submitted -- along with me -- to the most stringent and advanced battery of tests before he lays a glove on me. Not just a month in advance, but a week and a day as well.
Hell, test me in the ring between rounds, too, if you'd like.
Nothing to hide? Nothing to fear.
Let's remember, Pacquiao was a flyweight not all that long ago. He's added what appears to be 40 pounds of muscle to his frame -- nearly 40 percent of what had been his body weight -- and is exchanging punches with guys who as recently as two years ago were considered mismatches.
If this were a baseball player, the media would be at least casually interested.
If it were a baseball player the media and fans didn't seem to like -- Barry Bonds, for example -- the casual interest would go a tad further. And if it were Mayweather claiming "superstition" or "disrespect" as hollow reasons for backing away from the biggest fight ever, the mobs would be lining the streets.
It shouldn't make any difference that Pacquiao is popular.
And it shouldn't matter that Floyd and his family circus are villains.
In this case, right is right.
More so than baseball or other sports, making sure all is fair in boxing is vital. People can die in there. And a suspension after the fact would be a hollow salve for a beaten foe whose career is compromised through dubious tactics.
Remember, a pristine past doesn't always guarantee fair play in the future.
Just ask Antonio Margarito. Or Luis Resto.
No one suspected them before their incidents, but the sport is better off because of increased examination -- paranoia, perhaps -- that makes such dalliances more difficult to repeat.
And just because no one's asked for broad drug tests before doesn't mean they're a bad thing.
After all, it's not as if a competitive advantage is being requested.
It's not as if Mayweather asked for a 30-foot ring, pleaded he be allowed to wear headgear or demanded a reigning and defending champion come in two pounds lighter than his weight class allowed. That, understandably, would be cause for alarm.
Instead, he'd undergo the same tests as Pacquiao. Endure the same painful pin prick. Risk the same short-term arm soreness. And in the end, get the same Fig Newton cookie as reward.
It's a small price to make sure everything's on the up and up. For everyone.
Yet Pacquiao balks at testing and is given a pass, while Mayweather is again branded as the guy who avoids tough fights in the interest of protecting his record -- by the very promoter who not too long ago was favorably comparing him to Ray Leonard.
I don't care whose side you're on, that's just baloney.
And if Manny is really so upset at Floyd calling the shots, I've got a simple remedy.
Block the exit strategy.
Surrender this battle to win the war. For the sport. For the fans. For your bank account.
Take the needle in the arm. Apply a Band-Aid and rest for a bit.
Then get him in the ring for 36 minutes. And give him the beating of his life to remove any doubt about who's the best pound-for-pound property in the sport today.
That just might make him, Floyd Sr. and Uncle Roger go away for good.
Because beating Foreman, Malignaggi or any other imposter -- in spite of Arum's promotional revisionist history and Team Pac's "we're being persecuted" blather -- just won't get it done.
This week's title-fight schedule:
No fights scheduled.
Happy 2010!
Lyle Fitzsimmons is an award-winning 21-year sports journalist, a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and willing to undergo random tests to ensure he's not a blood relative of any member of the Mayweather clan. Reach him at fitzbitz@msn.com , follow him at twitter.com/fitzbitz or read him at fitzbitzonfights.wordpress.com.
Source: miamiherald.com
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