Needles, Testing and Manny – Oh My!

By Ron Pegram – The Casual Fan

In the following post, don’t expect historical analysis, rigorous research or anything else other than the ‘off the cuff’ opinions of a guy who has watched boxing his entire life. If you asked me the same questions a week from now, I might answer you differently but this is my take on the situation today.

In 1990, a reasonably taut and decidedly tongue-in –cheek flick named Arachnophobia crawled its way to a $50M domestic gross. Taking advantage of a commonplace phobia (that of spiders) and John Goodman’s star status at the time, the movie did better than expected at the box office. Manny Pacquiao is set to blow that away in the sequel, however, as his own version – Belonephobia - will open to at least $30M not to mention the subsequent PPV proceeds or other revenue streams to be generated from a fight of this stature.

Ok, so obviously I’m being a bit of an ass here with that opening. Yet, I can’t help but smirk at the notion that a guy willing to fight through a busted eardrum and who is tattooed is willing to throw away a $30M fight over the testing requirements demanded by Floyd Mayweather. ‘Money’ Mayweather, based on recent PPV receipts, has a claim to being the top draw in the sport. The other guy capable of making such a claim would be Manny Pacquiao (of course). So how come these two can’t get it together?

Well, it’s simple – if you believe the hype. Mayweather believes that Pacquiao’s ascension through the weight classes of boxing may be aided by some pharmaceutical magic. As a result, he wants Manny to agree to random testing. Manny’s people are crying foul because they say (among other things) that Floyd shouldn’t be able to dictate the rules of a sport.

Huh? What?

First of all, when did boxing become a sport? Boxing is nothing but a series of events. Big fights are basically concerts. True sports have organized schedules. If you want to know when your hometown team is playing their rivals, you look up their schedule. What you don’t do is log onto the Internet every few hours to see if the Los Angeles Lakers have agreed to play the Boston Celtics under the following conditions.

Yeah, that is a buzz kill to fans of the ‘sport’ including me. But it is what it is and the irony of it is that the fans have made this possible. It’ll all be sorted out in a few years, however, because every UFC PPV is being shown at various bars around the country, making thousands of new fans with every event. As a result, that sport is capable of putting together successful monthly PPV events. Boxing is back-page news. And it’ll only get worse because it’s a niche sport appealing ever more to an insular group of fans. But whatever, that’s another article…I believe boxing will get its act together.

Pacquiao knows full well the game that’s being played. He used his own star power recently to demand that Miguel Cotto, a world class 147 lb fighter, come in at 145 lbs with his 147 lb belt on the line. Amazing how the sport changed its rules for Manny. The 147 lb belt was contested at 1445lbs. Wouldn’t this be analogous to the Lakers saying ‘Yeah, we’ll play the Celtics during the regular season but we want their 2008 NBA championship record to be on the line…”

“Uh guys, you can’t play for that in 2010 because that’s the 2008 championship…”

So go ahead, switch ‘in 2010’ for ‘at 145 lbs’ and ‘2008’ for ‘147 lbs’. Boxing’s rules depend on whom you’re asking. And Manny knows this.

So that brings us to the fundamental question. Is Floyd just messing with Manny’s head or does he have reason to be suspicious?

I think Floyd does have a reason to be suspicious. And having reason to be suspicious is just that. It’s a hunch. Manny could absolutely be innocent. I’m not saying he isn’t. But here’s a layman’s justification for Floyd’s suspicion.

Manny is doing something very odd from a historical context. In fact, I had a conversation with a GREAT boxing fan just last night on this very issue. He brought up historical precedence of smaller fighters moving up in weight to be successful in the way that Manny has from 112 lbs to 147 lbs. You hear of names like Roberto Duran and Sugar Ray Robinson. Hell, even Evander Holyfield moved from 190 to being a bone-crunching 220 lb warrior.

But very few guys have moved up to the extent that Manny has with a physique like his AND better KO power at the higher weights and those that have (and Roy Jones, Jr. and Evander Holyfield come to mind in terms of the physiques) have been under suspicion during their careers as well.

You want to get historical with me. Fine, look up those videos of Sugar Ray Robinson and Roberto Duran at middleweight! Take at look at their builds. Did either look like a super-hero? Roberto Duran’s physique at 160 lbs was positively ‘Dad-like’. Somehow Manny has added muscle, kept off fat and done so in a time practically unheard of. His team says it’s the result of world class nutrition.

In fact, his nutritionist has been quoted as saying they feed Manny so much protein that they have added various supplements to protect and preserve the functions of his kidneys and liver.

I love it – Manny’s eating so much protein that his team is worried about his kidneys and liver. Wonder how they’re testing his liver function? I’m no scientist but my guess is that they’re drawing a little blood here and there to do that.

I have no idea if Manny is guilty. I hope he isn’t. He has an easy way to make sure this fight comes off, however. Admit that Floyd, like him, has star power, acquiesce to the demands and let’s get this thing going. Don’t sell me hype that Manny’s pride is at stake (he wasn’t too proud to demand the 147 lb belt be fought at 145 lbs). Don’t give me a line about how he’s nervous about needles when he has tattoos and a nutritionist on record as saying they monitor his kidney and liver functions.

Accept the testing, clear your name, and prove your greatness.

And make a similar ‘star-power’ demand. If I were Manny, I’d make Floyd come to the ring to the music from my most recent CD. If Floyd trying to bounce to the ring to Manny’s singing doesn’t throw off his rhythm in the early rounds, nothing will.