Floyd Mayweather Jr. Used Banned IV Before Pacquiao Fight

Floyd Mayweather Jr. has yet to respond to a new report that he was found to have taken an intravenous injection of saline and vitamins before his Manny Pacquiao fight that was banned under World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) guidelines.

The substances inside the IV were not banned by WADA, but the fact that they were given intravenously was not allowed, according to the report.


SB Nation on Wednesday reported that three weeks after the May 2 fight, Mayweather received an exemption from the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). However, Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Bob Bennett said USADA does not have authorization to grant an exemption. Only the commission, Bennett said, can give an athlete an exemption…and the commission was not notified of the exemption until after it was given.

USADA disputed the report on Thursday with a statement saying Mayweather applied for and was granted an exemption for the infusion.

According to the report, USADA, which had been contracted by Mayweather and Pacquiao to conduct random drug testing for their bout, sent collection agents to Mayweather’s house in Las Vegas the night before the fight to conduct an unannounced drug test.

Mayweather’s medical team told the collection agents that the IV — which reportedly included a 250-milliliter mixture of saline and multivitamins and a 500-milliliter mixture of saline and Vitamin C — was being given to Mayweather for rehydration purposes following the weigh-in.

WADA rules do not allow intravenous infusions or injections of more than 50 milliliters per six hours “except for those legitimately received in the course of hospital admissions, surgical procedures, or clinical investigations.”

According to the report, WADA bans such injections and infusions because they can be used to “dilute or mask the presence of another substance.”
SB Nation also reported that USADA did not inform the Nevada commission about the IV until May 21, when it sent correspondence to commission officials and Top Rank, Pacquiao’s promoter, notifying them that Mayweather had been given a retroactive therapeutic-use exemption, which was allowed in the contract the fighters signed to cover the drug-testing protocol for the bout. However, when the commission and Top Rank requested more information about it, they learned Mayweather had not applied for the exemption until May 19. It was granted May 20, the report said.

While Mayweather was given an exemption three weeks after the fight, Pacquiao was denied a request to be injected with the legal painkiller Toradol on fight night to ease pain in his injured rotator cuff, which he had surgery on after the bout. The commission declined Pacquiao’s request because it was not made in a timely manner, and he had not previously disclosed the injury.