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The fluids that Mayweather's camp says were administered to the fighter - saline and vitamins to combat dehydration - are not banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which sets the standards used by USADA. However, the use of the IV, as well as the decisions by USADA to not notify the Nevada State Athletic Commission and to retroactively issue a use-exemption, raise several red flags.
The New Jersey Athletic Commission first learned about the use of the IV on May 21, 19 days after the fight, according to the report. That was when USADA informed the commission that a retroactive therapeutic use exemption (TUE) had been granted to Mayweather. SBNation learned that Mayweather did not apply for the TUE until May 19, more than two weeks after the fight.
The issue with the use of an IV is that it can be used to "dilute or mask the presence of another substance that is already in the recipient's system or might be added to it in the near future." In this case, Hauser says Mayweather received 750 milliliters of fluids, "equal to roughly 16 percent of the blood normally present in an average adult male."
WADA bans the infusion of more than 50 ml in a six-hour period unless "received in the course of hospital admissions, surgical procedures, or clinical investigations."
Victor Conte, who came to fame as the founder of the BALCO lab and who later pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute steroids, also says the use of the IV is worrisome.
"If they're administering what they said they did, it doesn't make sense to me," Conte told SBNation. "There are more effective ways to rehydrate. If you drank ice-cold Celtic seawater, you'd have far greater benefits. It's very suspicious to me. I can tell you that IV drugs clear an athlete's system more quickly than drugs that are administered by subcutaneous injection. So why did USADA make this decision? Why did they grant something that's prohibited? In my view, that's something federal law enforcement officials should be asking."
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Bob Bennett, the executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, called the use of the IV "totally unacceptable."
"The TUE for Mayweather's IV - and the IV was administered at Floyd's house, not in a medical facility, and wasn't brought to our attention at the time - was totally unacceptable," Bennett told SBNation.
Several years prior to their bout, Pacquiao had sued Mayweather for defamation, with Pacquiao claiming he was defamed by Mayweather suggesting the boxer had used performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). That case was later settled out of court. According to Hauser, that settlement came after Pacquiao's attorneys requested documents pertaining to PED testing of Mayweather, documents that were never produced because of the settlement.
We have reached out to Floyd Mayweather and his representatives for comment and will update when we hear back.