Manny Pacquiao: Why Pac-Man Is Boxing's True Controversial Star

Manny Pacquiao is a walking red flag.

His smile is contagious. His small stature makes him look innocent. But despite sharing the same sport with Floyd Mayweather Jr., Pac-Man is the sport’s most controversial athlete.

Inside the ring—in all of sports—what’s the most damned issue? Cheating is.

Mayweather is an arrogant, racist head-case, but no one is accusing Pretty Boy Floyd of steroid use. Pacquiao, on the other hand, has his critics. Of course, one critic is doing most of the talking.

Rick Reeno of Boxing Scene reported that Money May hasn’t stopped preaching Pacquiao’s abuse of the juice. When talking about Pac’s success in multiple weight classes, he said:

"

I'm going up in weight but I'm not just walking through no damn fighters. This (expletive) was 106 [when he started] and he's just walking through [Miguel] Cotto. And Cotto can't knock down [Shane] Mosley, but he can? Come on man.

"

Pacquiao began his career as a light flyweight at 98 pounds. Of course, he was 16 years younger then. Pac-Man was still fighting super bantamweight in 2003 at under 122 pounds. In 2008, he got big enough to fight Oscar De La Hoya as a welterweight.

Mayweather’s curiosity led him to ask these questions (via Boxing Scene):

"

Where was Manny Pacquiao at 96? He was a pro before me. Where was he in 97? Where was he in 98? Where was he all these years? All I'm doing is just asking a question. Come on, it's basic common sense now. And guess what, it took me years to get to here. It took me years to get here.

"

Where was he? I’ll answer that question for Floyd: Pacquiao was knocking out a bunch of no-name fighters in the Philippines.

Believe it or not, Mayweather’s rant wasn’t over. I know. You’re stunned (via Boxing Scene):

"

 Go back and look at the pictures. His head is small and then all of a sudden his head just grew? Come on man, stop this. Ray Charles can see this (expletive). Go back and look at the pictures and tell me this man's head didn't get bigger. You're going to tell me this (expletive) is all natural. Come one man, stop.

"

No proof exists that Pacquiao took performance-enhancing drugs. But it took years for Pac to agree to the drug testing that Mayweather desired. Back in 2009, Dan Rafael of ESPN reported that Pac-Man refused to take the tests holding up the fight to which Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer was baffled:

"

Team Mayweather is very surprised that an elite athlete like Manny Pacquiao would refuse drug testing procedures which Floyd has already agreed to and have been agreed to by many other top athletes. Why would Pacquiao refuse to have the same kind of testing that Lance Armstrong, Michael Phelps, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant have had?

"

Pacquiao is simply followed by a cloud of doubt. And until that cloud dissipates, he won't escape controversy.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

Follow @TheRealDDaniels