By Ryan Maquiñana
Floyd Mayweather Sr., father and trainer of boxing’s pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr., went on the offensive Saturday night regarding his son’s archrival, Manny Pacquiao.
Following the younger Mayweather’s second consecutive decision victory over Marcos Maidana at the Las Vegas MGM Grand, Mayweather Sr. addressed a group of reporters whether Pacquiao or fellow welterweight Amir Khan would pose more of a problem for Mayweather Jr. in a future bout.
In a video captured by Ryan Burton of BoxingScene.com , Mayweather Sr. chose Khan, opining that the British star is “faster” than Pacquiao, and then delved deeper into the issue with a personal attack on the latter.
“What Pacquiao did over these years is fake people out, had people thinking that he was knocking somebody out,” Mayweather Sr. said. “He wasn’t knocking no damn body out. All he did, like I said, he used drugs. That’s what he did.”
Mayweather Sr. then asked aloud, “Who did he knock out?” After citing the lengthy period that has elapsed since Pacquiao’s last stoppage victory (a 12th-round technical knockout of Miguel Cotto in 2009), the trainer later added: “That tells you you’ve been using something.”
The verbal barrage is a curious one especially considering that two years ago, Pacquiao had reached an agreement to drop a defamation lawsuit against the Las Vegas-based Mayweather Jr. that was originally filed in 2009. According to Pacquiao, Mayweather had accused the Filipino fighter of using performance-enhancing drugs.
In a statement released via the office of mediator Daniel H. Weinstein shortly after the confidential out-of-court settlement, Team Mayweather -- a group that included Floyd Jr., Floyd Sr., the fighter’s uncle Roger and Mayweather Promotions -- said that they “wish to make it clear that they never intended to claim that Manny Pacquiao has used or is using any performance-enhancing drugs.”
In addition, the statement declared: “Nor are they aware of any evidence Manny Pacquiao has used performance-enhancing drugs. Manny Pacquiao is a great champion and no one should construe any of our prior remarks as claiming that Manny Pacquiao has used performance-enhancing drugs.”
A fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao has failed to come to fruition for several years despite speculation that such a clash would be the most lucrative matchup in boxing history.
Ryan Maquiñana is the Boxing Insider at Comcast SportsNet Bay Area and the Editor-in-Chief of Norcalboxing.com. He is a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow him on Twitter @RMaq28 or email him at rmaquinana@gmail.com .