Douglass Fischer, associate editor for The Ring Magazine, suggests that Floyd Mayweather is using PEDs.
It’s commonplace for fight fans to marvel at the physique of elite-level boxers. Athletes are physical specimens who rely on their bodies in order to make a living. They’ve reached the professional ranks because they are physically superior to the rest of us.
Sometimes an athlete looks so great that we question the means of how they achieved bodily perfection. That’s how rumors start. That’s gossip. Most people do it, and some do it publicly on social media.
We don’t blink when the average person questions if an athlete is using PEDs, but when a highly respected sports journalist and editor does it, people notice.
Several hours after the Mayweather/McGregor weigh-in, associate editor for The Ring Magazine, Douglass “Dougie” Fischer, tweeted about Floyd Mayweather’s physical evolution.
Via Twitter, Fischer stated:
The Ring magazine is a respected boxing publication and Fischer is a major voice within the boxing community. His opinion carries a lot of weight.
Fischer did not claim that Mayweather uses PEDs, but his words suggested it. There are not many ways to interpret #PED.
Sports journalists and commentators provide their audience with their opinions. Questions regarding athletes and PED use are commonplace on TV. There was a lot of speculation about MLB players and PED use during the late ’90s and early 2000s and it all seemed logical. Players were ballooning up in size overnight and were smacking home runs at a fast pace. But to suggest that Floyd Mayweather is using PEDs after his latest weigh-in seems out of place.
Fischer thinks that Mayweather’s body looks highly altered after a 10-11 year period. That’s a long time. Fischer’s tweet doesn’t suggest that Mayweather’s body changed overnight but that it doesn’t look the same as 10 or 11 years ago. That’s an ample amount of time for Mayweather to have physically matured.
It’s curious that this suggestion is being made by Fischer now of all times. Mayweather’s body didn’t look different at this weigh-in than any others over the last several years. Mayweather looks average by his standards.
Also, 10 or 11 years ago, Mayweather was fighting as a welterweight, one weight class below his current weight class of super welterweight. Mayweather is a small super welterweight. He just weighed in at 149.5 pounds — six pounds below the super welterweight division. If Mayweather was using PEDs, wouldn’t he be a bit bigger?
Mayweather is currently tested by the USADA as stated by MMAFighting.com. Maybe Fischer’s observations are legitimate. If Mayweather does test positive, then Fischer will look like a genius. Its surprising that he made these comments in writing in a public forum like Twitter.
It should be noted that The Ring is owned by former boxing champion Oscar De La Hoya, who fought Mayweather in 2007 and lost by split decision.
Next: Mayweather vs. McGregor: Full prop bets and odds
He is also the founder of Golden Boy Promotions. and he is not a fan of the Mayweather/McGregor fight. He recently took to Twitter to bash the Mayweather/McGregor matchup. His comments were explicit, so I won’t repeat them. If you really want to see what he said, click here.
The Ring magazine is a boxing staple, but within a matter of hours after the Mayweather/McGregor weigh-in, its associate editor and founder have made disparaging remarks about it.
I hope that The Ring maintains its coveted journalistic reputation, but right now, it looks more like a paid advertisement for Golden Boy Promotions, and it is having a bit of a tantrum.