There is a fine line between a rumor and a solid sourced piece of information.
A rumor is normally heard not seen, so it is very difficult to verify. When information is passed between individuals it can be manipulated and in some cases just flat out fictional, so before you accuse someone you need to be very careful and make sure your intel is accurate.
For years Manny Pacquiao has been accused of taking Performance Enhancing Drugs, with no real evidence to back it up. It was always a circumstantial case at best. The Mayweather family have been the main accusers, so as you can imagine any rumors about Floyd Mayweather PEDs use is going to garner some news.
The problem is the information is very shaky. Here is what we know courtesy of Max Boxing.
Manny Pacquiao filed a defamation suit against the Mayweathers for saying he used PEDs. Pacquiao’s attorneys heard of a rumor that Mayweather had failed not 1, not 2, but 3 drug tests in the past.
Once Pacquiao’s lawyers got a hold of the rumors they asked for all of Mayweather’s tests going back a couple of years. Mayweather’s attorney never provided the documents. After Floyd got out of jail a settlement offer was made and that closed the case. According to Pacquiao’s lawyers the offered was greater than they anticipated.
If you are asking yourself how Mayweather could fail three tests and no one ever find out about it, here is the explanation from Max Boxing.
Iit was rumored that Mayweather’s “A” sample had tested positive on three occasions and, after each positive test, USADA had found exceptional circumstances in the form of inadvertent use and gave Floyd a waiver. This waiver, according to the rumor, negated the need for a test of Floyd’s “B” sample. And because the “B” sample was never tested, a loophole in USADA’s contract with Mayweather and Golden Boy allowed the testing to proceed without the positive “A” sample results being reported to Mayweather’s opponent or the Nevada State Athletic Commission (which had jurisdiction over the fights).
There is no way of knowing if this is true or not. If it was true it would be considered a huge scandal and Mayweather’s reputation would be in shambles.
Without any concrete evidence against Floyd or Manny it should be innocent into proven guilty and I will assume not out a naïvety but fair game that they both are clean.
I will leave you with this comment from Steroid expert Victor Conte.
“Mayweather is not doing Olympic-style testing,” Conte states. “I’ve never liked the use of that phrase. ‘Olympic’ means 24-7-365. To be effective, drug testing has to be 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. The benefits that an athlete retains from using anabolic steroids and certain other PEDs carry over for months. That means athletes can develop their strength and speed base early and the benefits of PED use will last after that use has been discontinued. If you wait to start testing until eight to 10 weeks in advance of a fight, which is what Mayweather does, that’s not Olympic-style testing. Who knows what Mayweather or his opponent has done during the previous six months?”