Pacquiao steroid accusations
danstearns
chorus of voices after Mayweather Sr---including Jeff Mayweather,
Kermit Cintron, and Wally Matthews----in accusing or implying that
Pacquiao is the beneficiary of some type of steroid (or something-or-
the-other illegal) enhancement:
http://www.badlefthook.com/2009/11/18/1163665/malignaggi-joins-crowd-of-those
Now Maligaggi’s , while lucid enough, is easy to enough to write-off
as he’s always somewhat of a prima donna prone to hysteria. Plus he
was brutalized by Cotto and---gasp----outboxed and outfoxed by Hatton,
both of whom Pacquiao summarily crushed. But what is this…………modern-
day McCarthyism, the thick skin of a cynical sporting world after
years of steroid use and the possibly/probably distorted achievements
of its most famous users? I dunno, but if this all turns out to have
some merit, then I’d be crushed, and Mayweather Sr would finally have
his day in the sun as his own self-appointed prophet. However, as it
stands it’s really just a nasty rumor with a contemporary paranoia at
its back.
As it is, here’s a few things to consider……while I’m no expert on the
depth and breadth of professional boxing’s illegal substance testing,
there is to this day no-----NONE, NEECH,NULLA, ZILCH---hard evidence
to implicate Pacquiao in any wrongdoing. And hey……it’s not like
Pacquiao was ever a singles hitter who suddenly started hitting
homeruns! Quite to the contrary, he’s been a KO threat and somewhat
of a monster in every weight class he’s ever been in. Now the
chin…….besides the two verrrry early, weight-drained body shot Kos,
and the odd knock-down via (of all things) a jab in tough and dirty
scrap against Nedel Hussain at 122, Pacquiao has stood up to the shots
of ledwaba, barrrera, morales, marquez, de la hoya, hatton and cotto
(et al) from 122 to 147 and kept his speed and carried his power with
him………rare, yes, but unheard of? No.
I mean you don’t have to look very far back into boxing’s history to
see that even a limited tough-guy like Vinny Pazienza went from being
a world 135 champ to knocking out undefeated 154 pound champ, Gilbert
Dele and later, undefeated 168 lb minor belt champ, Dana Rosenblatt.
Now I know these are different caliber fighters all the way around,
but it’s still an example of a much lighter weight fighter settling in
with some notable degree of comfort and power as much as five weight
classes above their original title weight. And Paz did that with none
of Pacquiao’s skills or, importantly, the time period of body maturity
between his flyweight days and his current lightwelter/welter.
As a former high school wrestler, I know that there’s a premium put on
getting as low in weight as you can for your body size to maximize
your advantage over potentially smaller opponents…..and this basic
rule plays out a lot in boxing too, with some fighters taking max
advantage of the fairly modern practice of day-before weigh-ins----
Arturo Gatti comes right to mind. But maybe in Pacquiao’s case, he’s
better off by maxing his protein and calorie intake and coming in
comfortable, but still ripped----if smallish---at welterweight?
Personally I was amazed that Manny walked straight thru Cotto and his
shots early, and don’t buy any damaged goods crap….. Cotto was in
shape, supremely motivated, and, as always, a handful for anyone and a
real terror at 147…..i really just thought Manny couldn’t possibly be
that sturdy at that weight, and if was going to win it never occurred
to me that it would be by intentionally testing Cotto’s power early!
Anyway, now it’s just another amazing chapter in an ever-impressive
history-making body of work. What’s next? Retirement and politics or
Mayweather I’d guess…….but that ought to be an insane series of
negotiating nightmares and diva posturing from both sides! 50/50 is
the only possible thing I can see, and that seems nearly
unintelligible to both sides at this point. If this fight comes off,
I’m still of the---always wrong as of late---inclination to pick
against my current favorite fighter , Manny Pacquiao. Why? Well
because Floyd is---in a way, but an important one here---like a
bigger, longer and better version of Marquez, who gave Manny fits.
But oh man, would I love to be wrong there ! Because, for all Floyd’s
hard-earned skills and natural gifts, Cotto (and even De La Hoya in
his time) is to my mind 20X the thing a champion should be………and that
is a guy who’s not afraid to lose by always facing the best in big
fights, and not just BEING the best in BIG FIGHTS! And Pacquiao is
that over-and-again……….because like I’ve said before, If Mayweather
had Pacquiao’s balls, he’d not only be looking at someone like Kelly
Pavlik and saying, “hell yeah, I can beat that guy”, but he’d be going
out of his way to do it, or something like it, as well.
Ps-----one last thought on these steroid accusations----just remember,
it was mere weeks ago that Oscar De La Hoya has repeated his
contention that he could’ve stuck his chin out* and let Pacquiao hit
it and nothing would happen, a sentiment other guys Pacquiao KO’d have
said as well. But it’s the speed times power squared by angles that
allows Manny to hit/floor guys with shots the never see……and the old
saying that “it’s the ones you don’t see that hurt you” is
exponentially enlarged in his case given the former SPA (speed power
angles) equation. Steroids………….ha, who needs steroids?
*hey, I thought that is what he did! Anyway, ImO, if he didn’t quit it
would’ve been stopped and he probably would’ve gone down.
danstearns
wrote:
> I noticed Paulie Maligaggi has joined the small---but slowly growing---
> chorus of voices after Mayweather Sr---including Jeff Mayweather,
> Kermit Cintron, and Wally Matthews----in accusing or implying that
> Pacquiao is the beneficiary of some type of steroid (or something-or-
> the-other illegal) enhancement:
>
i think Hauser's easily one of the best boxing writers out there, and
this is a nice kind of mini-diary of the Cotto fight