Scott Hale runs a small website called HaleStormSports.com. On Thursday, October 18, 2012, at approximately 8:30 a.m. Pacific Coast Time, Hale got a telephone call from a source in New York who told him that Erik Morales (who was scheduled to fight Danny Garcia two days later on a Golden Boy Promotions card at Barclays Center in Brooklyn) had tested positive for a banned substance.
“I knew they were about to start the [final pre-fight] press conference,” Hale recalls, “and I assumed the fight would be canceled. Four hours later, I went online and saw that the fight was still on and the story hadn’t broken. So I made some follow-up calls and a second source confirmed the story. Then a third source called me to confirm, but I still didn’t know what the drug was.”
“At that point,” Hale continues, “I called USADA and Golden Boy. Neither of them would confirm the story. One of my partners called the New York State Athletic Commission. They said they didn’t know anything about it, but our sources were solid. All three of them are reliable. So we decided to go with the story.”
The snowball rolled from there.
Initially, Golden Boy and USADA engaged in damage control.
Dan Rafael of ESPN.com spoke with two sources and wrote, “The reason the fight has not been called off, according to one of the sources, is because Morales’s ‘A’ sample tested positive but the results of the ‘B’ sample test likely won’t be available until after the fight. ‘[USADA] said it could be a false positive,’ one of the sources with knowledge of the disclosure said. ‘But from what I understand, they won’t know until the test on the ‘B’ sample comes back. That probably won’t be until after the fight.’”
Richard Schaefer told Chris Mannix of SI.com, “USADA has now started the process. The process will play out. There is not going to be a rush to judgment. Morales is a legendary fighter. And really, nobody deserves a rush to judgment. You are innocent until proven guilty.”
Also on Thursday, Schaefer told Rick Reeno of BoxingScene.com, “I think what is important here is that there is not going to be a witch hunt against Erik Morales. Let’s allow the process to play out.”
The New York State Athletic Commission was blindsided on the Morales matter. The first notice it received came in a three-way telephone conversation with representatives of Golden Boy and USADA after the Thursday press conference. In that conversation, the commission was told there were “some questionable test results” for Morales but that testing of Morales’s “B” sample would not be available until after the fight.
Then, on Friday (one day before the scheduled fight), Keith Idec revealed on BoxingScene.com that samples had been taken from Morales on at least three occasions. Final results from the samples taken on October 17th were not in yet. But both the “A” and “B” samples taken from Morales on October 3rd and October 10th had tested positive for Clenbuterol. In other words, Morales had tested positive for Clenbuterol four times.
Clenbuterol is widely used by bodybuilders and athletes. It helps the body increase its metabolism and process the conversion of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats into useful energy. It also boosts muscle growth and eliminates excess fats caused by the use of certain steroids.
Under the WADA code, no amount of Clenbuterol is allowed in a competitor’s body. The measure is qualitative, not quantitative. Either Clenbuterol is there or it’s not. If it’s there, the athlete has a problem.
After the positive tests were revealed, Morales claimed that he’d inadvertently ingested Clebuterol by eating contaminated meat. No evidence was offered in support of that contention.
at the shyt that been happening in the last 2-3 pages.
