Malignaggi Blasts Pacquiao: “Fans, Media Love Guys On Steroids”

The former champ, who has always cast aspersions on the Filipino Icon"s career, went all-in this time around, holding nothing back as someone who is now, as he claims, out of the sport entirely. The Brooklyn native would point out Pacquiao"s insane longevity. Signaling to the fact that Pacquiao was world champ when he first started learning the sport and is still world champ years after he retired.

Malignaggi"s Claim

“Yeah, I"ve always asserted that [Pacquiao was using PEDs]," Malignaggi said. I"ll give it to you the best way I can…I learned to box, I fought my entire amateur career, came up the ladder, turned professional, came up and down the professional boxing world as well, had a 16-year boxing career in the professional ranks, and then retired like a normal human being…Manny Pacquiao, when I started, was a world champion, Manny Pacquiao, when I ended it, was a world champion. Manny Pacquiao, today, is a world champion…Are we living in fairy tales? Does this guy not age? Aging is human… I was a young man, a teenager, maturing into my man body, I grew up, I fought professionally, I eventually passed my prime…[then] I was done…and this guy"s still on a championship level…The fans of boxing, the media in boxing, love this sh*t. They love guys being on steroids."

Casting Doubt

Obviously, Malignaggi is claiming that the extraordinarily long and productive 25-year professional career of Manny Pacquiao has a lot to do with trickery and flat-out cheating. The reality is that boxing history is not exactly littered with fighters whose world championship-level runs span 22 years, as Manny"s does.

Up until fairly recently, fighters experienced short career spans. Most saw rapid declines in their early-to-mid-30"s. Almost all were completely done by their late 30"s. These days, however, many fighters remain in their physical primes well into their late 30"s. Pacquiao, specifically, is still a top 3 fighter in the welterweight division at 41-years of age and shows no real signs of slowing down all that much.

Malignaggi Accuses Most

In that same interview, Malignaggi would assert that the sport is especially dirty with PEDs these days and that the fans and media don"t really care about cleaning things up.

“As far as the percentage of guys doing it? I think a high percentage do it," Malignaggi added. " I also think that guys who don"t want to do it are doing it because they realize what they"re up against, if they don"t do it, they get left behind."

Does Malignaggi have a point in signaling to Pacquiao"s career longevity as proof positive of doping? Or is Manny Pacquiao"s career simply an exceptional run by an exceptional once-in-a-lifetime athlete? You fans be the judge of that and feel free to leave your relevant comments below.

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