By Allan Fox: With the news of Floyd Mayweather Jr. having used an IV drip infusion the night before their fight last May to inject a saline solution and vitamins, Manny Pacquiao says he feels vindicated from the allegations that he was using PEDs.
The injection that Mayweather took was banned under the guidelines of the World Anti-Doping Agency, according to a report from Thomas Houser of SB Nation. Mayweather received an exemption by the USADA three weeks after the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight for the IV drip infusion.
Pacquiao said via Philboxing.com “truth finally came out, and I was vindicated. The Mayweather camp accused me of using PEDs (performance-enhancing drugs). Now look what happened. I hope Floyd Mayweather would learn a good lesson out of (the experience).”
Mayweather and USADA both state that his actions were legal with him taking the IV infusion.
According to SB Nation, USADA agents found out about the IV infusion when they conducted a random surprise drug test at Mayweather’s home in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 1st, the night before the fight. Mayweather had weighed in earlier in the day and successfully made weight for the fight in coming in at 146 pounds.
Now that Pacquiao has learned that Mayweather rehydrated using an IV the night before their fight, he wants a rematch because he doesn’t think it was fair what Mayweather did.
“I want a rematch,” Pacquiao said to AFP. “If need be, the NSAC [Nevada State Athletic Commission] should impose the appropriate sanction to sustain it’s credibility and to show the world they did not give preferential treatment to the Mayweather camp.”
There has been no word from the NSAC about whether they will impose sanctions on Mayweather, but even if they did, it probably wouldn’t be a big deal because he’s saying he’s going to be retiring after his fight against Andre Berto on Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Sanctions mainly works against fighters who are planning on continuing their careers, not against fighters that have already openly said that they won’t be fighting ever again.
Mayweather has obviously been very good to Nevada with him bringing in a lot of money to the state and especially Las Vegas with his many fights in that state and city over the years. If the NSAC were to hand down sanctions on Mayweather, they would be shooting themselves in the foot, because he’s helped the state for many years.
Who knows what happens if they were to penalize Mayweather? If Mayweather did decide to fight on, he could in theory choose another state like New York to fight next year. That obviously wouldn’t be a good thing for Nevada, especially if Mayweather were to face Pacquiao again, or take on a big name like Gennady Golovkin, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez or Miguel Cotto.
The NSAC can always order a rematch between Mayweather and Pacquiao and rule their previous fight as a no contest, but it would still come down to whether Mayweather is interested in fighting again. I don’t think it would bother Mayweather too much if the Nevada Commission reversed the decision over Pacquiao. He already knows he beat him.
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