Mosley, Mayweather quick to spread false Pacquiao steroid story -- Examiner

By Scott Heritage, Examiner.com

Initially the recent publication of a steroid use story concerning Manny Pacquiao, it which an anonymous supposed former sparring partner claims to have injected the star with steroids on a regular basis, seemed to rouse little public interest.

It was only in fact when the story was repeated by two of Pacquiao's fellow fighters that it began to gain momentum.

Before getting into why the story was spread and why, a little background on the article.

Many of the links given to the original story now appear to be dead, but it seems the article was first published on Value Sports Picks, a little known betting site.

Anything more than the briefest of glances at the article itself and it becomes clear that a number of things about the claims presented don't quite add up.

Firstly that even an anonymous source would decide to talk to a rather obscure gambling website rather than a respectable news outlet or even a just a boxing site is the first red flag.

Someone with potentially a front page news story, even wishing to hide their identity, would surely have gone to a known reporter. They would also probably have had the sense to produce some kind of evidence, an empty vial, a syringe with traces of Pacquiao's blood, or even just details such as the name of the specific drugs used or where they came from.

Instead we got:

”Once a week, right in the locker room of the Wild Card (Gym). Manny would drop his shorts and clench his teeth, and I would give him a jab in the upper outer quarter of his butt cheek. He hated every shot.”

The second is the fact that the source is claimed to be a Filipino former sparring mate of Pacquiao's from "his early years" up until he fought Miguel Cotto in 2009.

The story claims that the identity of the fighter in question, (a former pro, narrowing it down further) is withheld because of concerns over his safety.

The problem is that Pacquiao's sparring partners over the last few years have largely been American with a smattering of other nationalities thrown in. Since the early 00's at least he hasn't been known for sparring with a lot of Filipino fighters.

Even maintaining anonymity then wouldn't make it particularly hard for either Pacquiao, fellow professionals and even fans to work out who the sparring partner was, even broadening 'sparring partner' to any Filipino fighter ever to have worked with Pacquiao in the gym up until the Cotto fight.

Lastly, credibility of the story aside, even if a fighter as famous and well connected as Pacquiao were inclined to use steroids, would he really have a sparring partner inject him in a locker room?

A guy who gets punched for a living who presumably has no medical knowledge, instead of a doctor, or even a drugs expert of some kind less likely to leak the story to the press in the future?

The story in itself might not have attracted much more attention had it not been for the actions of recent Pacquiao opponent Shane Mosley and long time rival Floyd Mayweather, who both tweeted links to the story earlier today to their combined 1.24 million followers.

Mosley:

"Pacquiao ex-sparring partner came out a couple days ago stating that he would inject him w steroids - since Ricky fight look that up"


"These are not my words it comes from a article And his sparring partner but if it is true!!!! Than what do you say please google"

While Mayweather went with:

"Everyone has to read this RIGHT NOW:"

Followed by a link to one version of the story

While this kind of thing is to be expected from Mayweather, who has a long and storied history of attempting to undermine, offend and insult Pacquiao, Mosley in the past has always had a reputation of being a little more astute.

Given that Mosley is a former P.E.D user himself, albeit one who maintains that he never knew what he was taking, his willingness to believe the story without first reading a little more into it is surprising, and will no doubt be viewed by many as bitterness over his poor performance against Pacquiao earlier this month.

Also even after his shocking performance against Pacquiao, Mosley may well be in line for more bouts under the Top Rank banner in the future. Alienating the promotion's biggest star and likely boss Bob Arum as well isn't a good career move.

Source: examiner.com