True that: Floyd Mayweather is cleaner than Board Of Health Boxing by Michael Marley

Just thought i'd post this cause i was in shock and awe that it came from marley and the examiner .... but i figure its got a lot to do with the fact that ali used Xylocaine as well. True that: Floyd Mayweather is cleaner than Board Of Health by Michael Marley Ignorance and misinformation can be a lethal combination. So it is with the unfair and off-target attacks on undefeated boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr. regarding his usage of Xylocaine. Fair is fair and if Manny Pacquiao has been falsely accused on PEDs, it doesn't make it right to rip Mayweather doing something that is regulated and not prohibited. Not every substance that ends in “caine” is illegal like cocaine. Remember the Grateful Dead song about engineer Casey Jones speedballing, driving “the night train high on cocaine?” Or, as it was known around New York back in the day, “Bolivian Marching Powder.” I may be an unusual suspect to stick up for Mayweather. I know this will put a twist in the knickers of Mayweather cheerleaders like my addled correspondent, Stephen Donovan at Helsinki.com, but the Internet slamming of Mayweather on this has been ridiculous. Anyone who spent much time around fighters and in their dressing rooms or training camps knows the occupational hazard of all fighters is hand pain. Maybe it is for pianists as well but I never saw anybody slamming Liberace's mitts while he was pounding the ivories, did you? Who else has taken shots, be it Xylocaine or novacaine or whatever, to deaden their hands, to make their mitts less suspectible to wicked pain at least during a fight Muhammad Ali tops the list. Dr. Ferdie Pacheco used to stick a needle into Muhammad's hands before almost every bout especially as Ali got older and had more wear and tear. Don't overlook sparring, the most overdone aspect of training even today, which takes a prolonged toll on the hands as well. There is one former world champion competing today who got one hand shot up minutes before he climbed into the ring a few years ago. No questions were asked about the injection and his camp did not volunteer any information. That fighter passed a postfight urine test with flying colors and there was no detection of the painkilling injection. I'm not sure that Thomas “Hitman” Hearns took such shots but I would be surprised if he didn't. I remember being in his locker room in Philadelphia after a 10-rounder against Alfonso Haymon and seeing an in pain Hearns soaking BOTH hands in a bucket filled with ice. In my alleged mind's eye, I can see the Hitman, having not recorded a KO or stoppage for the first time in 18 pro bouts, giving interviews as Manny Steward sat next to him. It was April 3, 1979, at the Spectum and Hearns' fists looked like mini-basketballs. Nevada's position, which is reasonable, is fighters should not take such painkillers, nothing except aspirin, between the time of the weigh in and the fight. Policing of this policy is not the strictest and, unless something pops up in a urine test after the fight, there is no issue. How difficult is it for a fighter to get a painkilling injection in his hotel room BEFORE he walks into the arena and goes into a dressing room which will be crawling with Nevada's red jacketed commission inspectors? Yes, not very hard is the right answer. So, to single out Mayweather who from all reports and appearances has been nothing but an honest and clean ring warriror on Xylocaine is wrong. If you really want to enter the realm of craziness, I could tell you about the storied world champion who got such injections in a face before some fights. That's right, he took numbing injections in his cheers and I don't mean around his buttocks. If I mentioned the state where this happened, you would know who the impervious to pain prizefighter was but I won't. I could tell you his name but I won't. The fighter is dead but his handlers are still around and they might be inclined to file litigation. Besides, I never saw this and I've never spoken to any eyewitness to such behavior, so I think I will try to remain litigation free. Speaking of "shooters," back in the late 60s there was a preliminary bout fighter around Boston named Sammy "Cooley" Campbell. He seemed impervious to pain in the ring. He worked at a hospital and brought his own needles and "stardust" with him to the arena. He used to shoot himself up before a bout. Back to Mayweather, if he used any non-prohibited painkiller and it was duly reported to the commission, it doesn't amount of a hill of beans. You've got hand it to Floyd because, while he has cherrypicked opponents occasionally, I don't think he has ever cheated to win. His true gifts are hand and foot speed and the radar accurate jab.\ You don't get such ring attributes out of a box of either EPO or crackerjacks. Mayweather's name has never come up in the same sentence as Victor Conte or BALCO, has it? No one has ever surfaced to say that Mayweather rode the BALCO Bus. Winning is Mayweather's forte and that's why his record ends with a big goose egg. To many, he is a hero with a zero. And winning, that is his specialty, his raison d'etre. (It may be why he won't risk his precious 0 against fierce fighter Pacquiao but the jury is still out on that verdict.) You may not like it but Mayweather is cleaner than the Board Of Health. This I believe. (mlcmarley@aol.com) http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-5699-Boxing-Examiner~y2010m2d18-True-that-Floyd-Mayweather-is-cleaner-than-Board-Of-Health?cid=sharing_facebook:5699