By Rob Blakeman: I know the lust for a fight between these two modern greats has diminished due to Manny Pacquiao being defeated in sensational style by Juan Manuel Marquez in his last fight but I have no doubt Manny will bounce back and look equally as spectacular himself with some good victories over quality fighters in the near future. So if the proposition of what still may be the most interesting fight out there rears its head again let’s look at why it may not happen-again.
Let’s look at the original reasons for the event not happening. We in the know-know neither fighter fears any man. We also know that promoters with their own politics and protection of cash-cows are the main reason fights that should happen don’t. Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny are both true fighting men who spend most of their time thinking about fighting because they love it.
Anyone who has known true fighting men-meaning men who fight for pride not just money knows that these two guys would love to get it on. I believe they would fight each other in a field for no money in front of two men and a dog if it were left to them just to see for themselves who truly is The Man. So, if the drugs test controversy was really the reason Mayweather v Pacquiao never took place before then it is truly an injustice for everyone involved.
As a trainer and former athlete I have spent a lot of time with Professional athletes and former pro athletes alike some of whom had competed in various Olympic sports as far back as the 1970’s and 80’s and they all without exception felt very bitter that they had spent the best years of their lives competing against robots built in East German laboratories. East Germany is where it all began folks. Hungry for medals and acknowledgment of superiority over the west the East Germans drug fueled their sprinters first and then eventually all of their athletes, even the swimmers. The drugs then were very experimental and had some odd side effects-such as turning the female swimmers into men. In any case, knowing what we all know now 40 years later we have to look at the facts.
All top athletes in all modern sports worldwide use performance enhancing drugs of some kind and the ones who say they don’t are generally the ones who use the most. The higher paid the athlete the more money is at stake with a loss so the athletes and their coaches/doctors/management etc, are all involved at some level in helping the athlete become as good as possible or to recover from injury as quickly as possible by using the drugs. More importantly they are just as concerned with using the most elaborate means to mask the drugs in the athletes system and beat any drugs tests that they may have to take-don’t forget Lance Armstrong wasn’t caught cheating. Just like real police work, the detective doesn’t usually get his man through forensics and such like on fictional T.V. shows-someone just grasses the bad guy up! This is what happened to Armstrong who had evaded an accurate drugs test for years one way or another. Of course you get the odd idiot not following all of the advice given to him by the doctor involved and he gets caught out but they are in the minority and usually they get a blood test revealing they used Coke or Marijuana and not anything on the banned athletic enhancement drugs list but this makes the news and the athlete is punished. This all helps further the illusion that drugs testing works and keeps sponsors happy to plug their products using ‘wholesome’ athletes who in reality just got under the wire because they took measures to remain unexposed.
Anyway, here is the solution not that anyone will want to hear it for obvious reasons: Anabolic steroids used correctly alongside rigorous training and good nutrition and such make an average athlete into a good athlete. Likewise they make a good athlete into a great athlete and finally they help in making a great athlete into a super athlete. In other words the bar is raised to a level dependent on the starting point. So all of the athletes in all sports should just be able to use the drugs they want unimpeded and guess what? The Champion will still be the champion. This applies to existing professionals and moreover those coming in through the amateurs.
They are all going to use drugs anyway to some degree or another even if they haven’t already as amateurs when they are finally faced with the fact that in the major league, they can either use drugs or come second to those who are. By letting all athletes use any enhancing drugs is THE only way you will ever truly see a level playing field. I know it’s sad but it’s true.
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