By Felix Strunk

Sir Walter Scott summed it up best when he wrote, “Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” Through the use of a carefully worded press release and a number of well-prepared interviews, both Golden Boy Promotions and Team Mayweather practiced the art of deception, making it appear as though Manny Pacquiao’s success might be due to some type of performance-enhancing drug. The request for Olympic-style drug testing was baseless, but it was a request that was made nonetheless. Nice try Floyd, but there will be no extra blood tests, for Manny has consistently passed with flying colors every test required of him by any and all boxing commissions.

For 8 years, Pacquiao has fought in Las Vegas, passing each blood test required every time he renewed his boxing license. In total, 11 fights in Sin City, meaning at least 22 pre and post-fight urine tests that have all come back negative for any banned substance listed by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. This isn’t the first time that the subject of performance-enhancing drugs has been brought up in the sport of boxing. Evander Holyfield, James Toney, Roy Jones Jr. and even current champions Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko have been linked to steroids within the past 10 years. That said, to this day, there has never been a change in any rules governing drug testing in the sport. Guys like Shane Mosley and Fernando Vargas, who have actually been caught in the past using steroids, have never been required to take any additional drug tests other than those regulated by the Athletic Commissions. In fact, ironically, after admitting to using steroids, both Mosley and Vargas fought each other twice in Las Vegas and yet neither one ever asked the other for additional testing.

So why now? Why, for this particular fight, would Manny be forced to do additional tests? The answer is simple…Mayweather is nervous! Never before have they ever seen the path of destruction that the Filipino icon is carving through the divisions. Never before has any fighter, not even ones who have been caught and suspended, had to subject themselves to additional testing to prove that they were not cheating. Mosley and Vargas never tore through names the manner in which Pacquiao is doing. Fearful that there’s actually a threat to his undefeated record, it’s the only explanation that Mayweather could come up with and thus, so began the campaign to tarnish Pacquiao’s legacy and perhaps avoid a fight that could earn him his first loss.

Unfortunately for Mayweather, the plan has backfired. With nothing to prove and, more importantly, nothing to hide, Pacquiao is standing firm on his position to follow the exact same rules of the Nevada State Athletic Commission that he has always followed throughout the years. Now the decision rests with Floyd as to whether or not he truly wants to step inside the ring with the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. But make no mistake, Pacquiao’s continued success throughout the years has come from nothing more than hard work and dedication to his craft. It is that hard work and dedication that truly concerns Floyd Mayweather, as he realizes that now, there’s no more protecting that unblemished record. read more