Manny Pacquiao Drug Test Results May Shock You

Over the course of the last 19 months, Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines has fought in four divisions, ranging from Super Featherweight to Welterweight, while capturing the WBC Super Featherweight, WBC Lightweight, IBO Junior Welterweight, and WBO Welterweight titles, respectively. In that same time span he has scored 7 knockdowns of bigger opponents while surrendering none, carried an eighty percent knockout percentage, and seemingly becomes more destructive with each fight. The ever so eloquent Floyd Mayweather Sr. fired the initial shot heard around the boxing world when he shared his opinion with Dave Mayo of The Grand Rapids Press that Pacquiao was using an unidentified performance enhancer to gain a competitive advantage over his much bigger opponents. It was widely assumed that Pacquiao's sensational knockout over the Briton, Ricky Hatton, Floyd's charge, was the cause of such an accusation as Floyd had made no such argument or concern public before the fight. The public assumed that either Mayweather saw something in the fight that convinced him, or the result of the one sided statement by Pacquiao triggered a rebuttal of sorts. In the weeks leading up to the Las Vegas Mega Match between Pound 4 Pound King Manny Pacquiao and the defending WBO Welterweight Champion, Kermit Cintron joined the ranks of detractors by sharing his concern with Pedro Fernandez of Ring Talk that he was concerned over Pacquiao's recent success in weight class sprinting by stating that "I honestly think that he is taking something, because a lot of fighters coming up in weight like that, 40 something pounds… he just looks ripped like Bruce Lee. A lot of people who come up in weight like that don’t look as ripped as he is, they hold a lot of water weight. I just believe he is taking something. I think he is taking something that’s for sure..." Although Paulie Malinaggi had originally voiced no suspicions of Pacquiao in leading up to the November 14th Welterweight Championship Bout, he did make his opinion public that Pacquiao would be knocked out by Miguel Cotto. According to Paulie who had first hand knowledge in the ring with Cotto, Miguel would simply hit too hard for Manny to be able to withstand such a punishing assault. However, after the Filipino's 12 round demolition of Paulie's former conqueror, Malinaggi was quoted as stating to BoxingScene.com "I think there is something up with Manny Pacquiao. I am not going to get into it. I think people will understand what I am saying. Full blown welterweights don't take those type of punches from Miguel Cotto the way he took them with total disregard for his power nor do they hurt him with every punch they hit him with. These are full blown welterweights I am talking about. This guy is coming up in weight and doing all these things. There is something up with this guy but that's as far as I am going to go into it." Although there have been speculations among some critics, the fact remains that Nevada is in the higher echelons of substance testing among states due to the amount of Boxing matches that occur within it's borders. The test will detect over 40 substances and masking agents including painkillers, barbiturates, amphetamines, marijuana, cocaine, growth enhancers, and steroids to name a few. Pacquiao leading up to his tangle against Cotto spotted a perfect record, both in the state of Nevada and elsewhere. The test results have finally arrived and confirm the gut feeling of countless boxing fans, analyst, and journalist that Pacquiao is indeed clean, now sporting a 10-0 record in Nevada drug tests. Although it is well within reason to question such a historic feat, one must place everything into an empirical and historic view to fully understand the results of the test and what it means. Boxers such as Henry Armstrong achieved similar feats before the introduction of performance enhancers to mainstream athletic competitions, but in the post Mosley/Bonds age, we seem to be on a witch hunt to assassinate excellence. In order to fully comprehend the accusations that certain drugs will remain undetected in urine tests, allow me to set the record straight on the drugs most assumed to go undetected as it related to Performance Enhancers. Deca-Durabolin, an anabolic steroid- Although widely assumed to go undetected, that is in the case of drug tests that are searching specifically for recreational drugs as they are more concerned with specific chemical compounds that point to Cocaine, marijuana, et cetera. In the case of an Athletic Oriented Urine Analysis, this would be found even up to to 18 months after discontinuation. Assorted non illegal Anabolic steroids- This is really applicable to the exact answer of Dec-Durobolin. Although some tests not specifically searching for such a substance may not detect certain strains, the test applied by Athletic Commissions would. Other drugs that will be detected on such a Urine Analysis- - Marijuana - Opium - Heroin - Phencyclidine (PCP) - Ecstasy - LSD - Anabolic steroids - Oxycodone (OxyContin) - Hydrocodone (Vicodin) - Benzodiazepines (Xanax, Valium) - Barbiturates - Amphetamine - Methamphetamine (aka Meth or Crystal Meth) - Morphine, Codeine, and other narcotics/opiates In light of the evidence presented, it is appropriate more than ever to drop unfounded accusations as they only hurt excellence and diminish the sport, rather than supporting the rebirth of modern day prize fighting. It is not without reason that one would question such a timeless conquest, such as Pacquiao has achieved, but with the results plainly on display for public viewing, it is time to let go of the idea that Pacquiao is being aided by some mystery drug that has effects never seen before, bares no name, and amazingly shows up on no drug test, as this type of drug exists strictly in the imagination of those unable to except the standard which has been set by the wrongly accused. Floyd Mayweather Senior recently stated that he wouldn't fight Pacquiao due to his suspicions of drug abuse, now that the results are in, one can only assume that further insistence that Junior should not fight the Filipino Typhoon would only confirm another suspicion of the boxing public. If you doubted that history could be made or that a small man could emerge as a giant, then you may be shocked to see that while both claims are positive, the drug tests are irrefutably negative.