By Edward Chaykovsky
Top Rank's CEO is not overly concerned with the recent IV scandal that fell on the lap of Floyd Mayweather Jr., but he appears to very concerned with Mayweather's testosterone levels during the random testing process in the lead-up to the May 2nd mega-fight with Manny Pacquiao.
Arum believes the level are very low for a top athlete like Mayweather. The bulk of the recent scandal has to do with Mayweather's using an IV, after the official weighin, to inject himself with vitamins. He received permission to do the IV from USADA [United States Anti-Doping Agency] and a retroactive TUE a few weeks later.
Arum says there are certain performance enhancing drugs that athletes use that cause their testosterone to drop to very low levels.
The issue can be settled, says Arum, by testing Mayweather's frozen urine samples with a carbon isotope ratio [CIR] test, which examines the atomic make-up of testosterone in the urine to determine if it is natural or synthetic.
"I think I’m less concerned about that [IV], although it’s a source of concern, than I am about the points in [Tom] Hauser’s article where he has Mayweather being tested with a .6 and .8 in the ratio between testosterone and epitestosterone,” Arum said to Fight Hub.
“I’m an old man and my ratio is 1-½ to 2. Mayweather’s ratio as an athlete should be between 2 and 3. For him to test less than 1 percent, something is wrong. What could be wrong - is there’s a cream that you can take to get the ratio down, which is an epitestosterone cream, which you can’t really regulate it and if you rub it in you can lose control of the ratio. If a doctor saw a ratio in a young male athlete like .6 and .8, he should send them right to the hospital. That’s like in my mind virtually impossible. I’m not a doctor, but it something incredible.”
"How do you test if something was going on? There are urine samples that you give, part of which are frozen. Take those frozen urine samples, do a CIR on it and you'll see if there is anything in there that shows the use the performance enhancing drugs."
"Maybe there is nothing there. I don't know. Mayweather fought for over ten years and I always considered him to be a very clean athlete. I never even thought he would ever use these kinds of drugs and I still remember the years he spent with us, but something smells wrong. [This issue with his ration is] over and above this crazy three weeks getting a TUE from USADA."
