Essential The Official Boxing Random Thoughts Thread...All boxing heads ENTER.

[SuikodenII]

In fairness to Golden Boy, no other promoter has made a serious effort to rid boxing of PEDs, or even pretended to. And Schaefer himself acknowledged recently, “I think that ultimately it should be up to the athletic commissions to adopt a more updated drug-testing protocol and really not up to a promoter.”

That latter point is particularly well-taken. The problem is that the state athletic commissions, as presently constituted, are woefully unsuited to the task. In many instances, boxing is barely governed at the state level. Everything has a loophole. Illegal PED users vs. the state athletic commissions is one of the biggest mismatches of all time.

Most state athletic commissions don’t have the resources, the technical expertise, or the will to deal effectively with the PED problem. People go along to get along. No one wants to make waves.

There’s no uniformity with regard to standards, degree of testing, or punishment from state to state. Testing on the day of a competition is notoriously ineffective in the face of sophisticated drug use. But that’s the only testing that most states utilize. Some states don’t drug test at all.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission has long been considered to have one of the best drug-testing programs in the country. Two years ago, Travis Tygart was asked, “How easy is it to beat a testing program like Nevada’s?”

“As simple as walking across the street,” Tygart answered. “It’s good for PR, to give the appearance that you’re testing, but nothing more.”

After Lamont Peterson tested positive with VADA, Zach Arnold of FightOpinion.com spoke with Keith Kizer (Executive Director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission).

“Kizer admits that a standard Nevada State Athletic Commission drug test would not have caught Peterson using synthetic testosterone,” Arnold reported afterward. “He admits that the reason the VADA test caught Peterson is because they use the Carbon Isotope Ratio standard for urine testing, which does in fact catch synthetic testosterone usage.”

The Peterson camp, as earlier noted, says Lamont tested positive because of the surgical implantation of testosterone pellets to correct a testosterone deficiency known as hypogonadism. Jeff Fried (Peterson’s attorney) says the implantation occurred on November 12, 2011.

Four weeks later, on December 10, 2011, Peterson fought Amir Khan in Washington D.C. The tests administered by the local commission failed to detect the testosterone. That’s a pretty good indication that PED testing in Washington D.C. is deficient.

California hosts more fight cards than any other state in the country. On October 9, 2012, the California State Athletic Commission upheld a one-year suspension imposed on Antonio Tarver in the wake of his testing positive for Drostanolone.

“The commission heard both sides of the issue and upheld Mr. Tarver’s suspension,” Kathi Burns (interim executive officer of the CSAC, told ESPN.com). “I think the commission’s actions speak for itself. It’s well-known that the commission has among the toughest anti-doping standards in the world, and that we have zero tolerance for doping.”

Not true.

California then turned 180 degrees and, without a full hearing, licensed Andre Berto for a November 24th fight (to be promoted by Golden Boy) against Robert Guerrero, despite the fact that Berto tested positive for Norandrosterone in May of this year. The explanation given by commission personnel was that Berto’s positive drug tests were administered by VADA and not by the commission itself.

 

[ℒℴѵℯJay ELECTUA]

i am all for this sudden investigation shyt but where was this during the holyfiled reign era???

 

[SuikodenII]

“How can they not recognize VADA?” Margaret Goodman asks. “Our program is in accord with WADA protocols. Our scientific director was recommended to us by WADA’s medical chief. We use internationally-recognized sample collectors. We even use the same laboratory [the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory] that the California commission uses.”

Then there’s the case of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Following his November 14, 2009 fight against Troy Rowland in Las Vegas, Chavez tested positive for Furosemide (a diuretic and steroid-masking agent). He was fined $10,000 by the Nevada State Athletic Commission and suspended for seven months. Four of his next six bouts were in Texas, one in California, and one in Mexico. Texas has a reputation for being lax in the area of drug-testing. Mexico is Mexico.

On September 15, 2012, Chavez returned to Las Vegas to fight Sergio Martinez. After the bout, it was revealed that Julio had tested positive for marijuana.

Marijuana is illegal, but it’s not a performance-enhancing drug. Chavez’s explanation for the positive test was as follows: “I have never smoked marijuana. For years, I have had insomnia, so I went to the doctor and he prescribed some drops for me that contained cannabis. I stopped taking them before the fight with Martinez, and I didn’t think I was going to test positive.”

That explanation strains credibility. Chavez might have been better off claiming he ate tainted beef from a cow that ate a marijuana plant. Still, before the NSAC rules harshly on Julio, it should consider testing all commission personnel (including the five commissioners) for recreational drugs. Boxing has a drug problem, but the drug isn’t marijuana.

As for Erik Morales and New York, on the day of Garcia-Morales II, the New York State Athletic Commission issued the following statement: “The New York Athletic Commission has taken into consideration the testing of Erick [sic] Morales conducted by USADA, an independent non-governmental organization contracted by Golden Boy Promotions to conduct testing on its boxers. Based upon currently available information and the representations made by Mr. Morales that he unintentionally ingested contaminated food, it is the Commission’s opinion that at this time there is inconclusive data to make a final determination regarding the suspension of Mr. Morales’s boxing license. The Commission will continue investigating the allegations and will wait until official laboratory results are available before making a final decision.”

Let’s give the NYSAC the benefit of the doubt and assume that enormous political pressure from above was brought to bear on well-intentioned administrators. Garcia-Morales II was the main event on the first fight card at the new billion-dollar Barclays Center, an anchor for economic redevelopment in Brooklyn.

Still, Kieran Mulvaney summed up nicely when he wrote on ESPN.com, “The way in which the situation was handled was borderline farcical. Morales failed tests twice, yet was allowed to take a third, which he passed, and faced no real consequences. Why have a drug-testing program if testing positive means nothing? If commissions are going to stand on the sideline, will failing a drug test become like missing weight: an inconvenience that can be smoothed over with some extra money changing hands?”

It should also be noted that the world sanctioning organizations are part of the problem, not part of the solution.

Four days after Garcia-Morales II, World Boxing Council President Jose Sulaiman declared, “The time of getting urine samples for the anti-doping tests is absolutely none other than in the dressing rooms before going into the ring or after the fights. The WBC only wants to test how a fighter is at the time of his performance and no other time unless it is a special circumstance. The tests are done by the local boxing commissions, most with which we have excellent relations and amicable agreements of mutual cooperation. We are, and have been, testing against drugs in boxing since 1975 and we have had only 15 positives in 37 years and about 1,600 fights. Boxing is a clean sport, as our data proves.”

If Sulaiman weren’t so adept at gobbling up sanctioning fees and crushing reform movements within the WBC, one would be inclined to dismiss him as a buffoon.

 

[SuikodenII]

i am all for this sudden investigation shyt but where was this during the holyfiled reign era???

That was the 90s, everything on both ends has become more sophisticated and corruption could've been a lot worse, maybe an investigative article one day will be or has already been written on the issue of the history of PEDs and doping in boxing.

Sports in general are going under reform for PEDs/doping. Football, boxing, baseball, cycling, etc

 

[SuikodenII]

As for what comes next, the signs aren’t promising. This Saturday (November 24th), Andre Berto will fight Robert Guerrero in Ontario, California, on a card promoted by Golden Boy.

Guerrero asked that the fighters be tested for PEDs by VADA. Walter Kane (Guerrero’s attorney) says that Richard Schaefer and Al Haymon (Berto’s manager) refused and would only allow testing by the California State Athletic Commission and USADA.

In other words, Berto said he’d do drug testing, but not with the people who caught him earlier this year.

Guerrero had two options. He could accept USADA and a career-high payday or lose the payday.

“I’m not happy about it,” Kane says, “but in the end, we really didn’t have a choice. Golden Boy controls the purse strings, and they’re calling the shots.”

Would the National Football League let Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones dictate drug-testing terms for games the Cowboys play? Of course not. But in essence, Golden Boy (which has a vested interest in the outcome of the fights it promotes) is doing just that.

Once again, the playing field has been tilted. There are times when it appears as though, not only does Golden Boy dictate which drug-testing organization is utilized, it can also influence whether or not there is random blood and urine testing for a fight.

Indeed, Golden Boy might even be able to use its influence over the drug-testing process as a bargaining chip in signing fighters. Andre Berto tested positive and, soon after, was licensed to fight in California in a big-money fight. Erik Morales tested positive and New York said, “No problem. He can fight here right now.”

Meanwhile, Golden Boy is refusing to use a drug-testing agency that plays by the reporting rules (VADA) and is giving its business to an agency (USADA) that appears to have ceded a certain amount of reporting authority to the promoter.

The problems are overwhelming and there are no easy answers. Even state-of-the-art tests often fail to uncover PED use.

Olympic gold medalist Marion Jones was tested more than 160 times during her track-and-field career and none of the tests came back as a confirmed positive. As the BALCO investigation widened, she admitted she’d used steroids prior to the 2000 Olympics and lied to federal investigations about it. She pled guilty to federal charges and spent six months in prison. The tests have gotten more sophisticated since then, but so have the cheaters.

Should boxing even try to curtail PED use?

“Yes,” says Victor Conte. “There will always be athletes who escape detection, but when there’s a desperate need, half a loaf of bread is better than none.”

One might look to Major League Baseball for parallels. No sport wants to tarnish its image, let alone its major stars. But as baseball discovered, if a sport looks the other way, the use of PEDs can come back to haunt it.

Baseball got a huge bounce when Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa rewrote its record book. Now an entire era has been disgraced, and baseball’s most hallowed records (which link fans from one generation to the next) are in limbo.

Baseball made significant strides when it decided, finally, to crack down on PED use. Home run statistics are evidence of that. For eight consecutive seasons (between 1995 and 2002), the MLB home run leader hit at least 50 home runs. In the past five years, that mark has been reached only once. In the past two seasons, the four league leaders hit 44, 41, 43, and 39 home runs. Compare that with 1998, when Mark McGwire hit 70, Sammy Sosa hit 66, and Ken Griffey Jr. hit 56.

In boxing at present, the users are way ahead of the testers and the distance between them is growing. The only thing that can possibly close the gap is a national approach with uniform national standards and a uniform national enforcement mechanism. If additional federal legislation is necessary to achieve that end, so be it. The notion that boxing can clean itself up one state athletic commission at a time is frivolous.

To make real headway, it should be a condition for granting a license in any state that a fighter can be tested for PEDs at any time. Logistics and cost would make mandatory testing on a broad scale impractical, but unannounced spot testing could be implemented.

 

[Skip b]

i am all for this sudden investigation shyt but where was this during the holyfiled reign era???

In the 90's it was very rare I'm sure 85% of those 90 fighters was roiding including Evan Fields, who Tyson asked for extra testing for





And the shyt is so foolish, and articles is all over the place USADA is in bed with GB somehow, and it's bigging up VADA, but lying ass Victor Conte Mr Steroid is one of their founders and works with them but they are credible.


If you watched the whole saga from a distance you would know whats what Arum has refused USADA but has said he would except VADA, these articles is simply putting a roadblock out their for a potential May vs Manny match, the battle this time USADA the most respected and credible organization vs VADA run by the most notorius drug dealer in the last 20 years


at Conte acting like he aint have shyt to do with Bonds and baseball, and it's also funny how 2 potential Floyd opponents got pooped by VADA who is touted by Arum

 

[SuikodenII]

All contracts for drug testing (such as Golden Boy’s contracts with USADA) should be filed immediately with the Association of Boxing Commissions and the supervising state athletic commission for the fight at issue. The ABC and supervising commission should be notified when each test is performed and also of each test result.

For a state athletic commission to say (as is the case in some jurisdictions) that it won’t recognize any tests but its own is ridiculous. It shouldn’t matter who does the testing as long as the tests are reliable. Whether it’s a police officer or a private security guard who sees a bank being robbed, the offense is prosecuted.

The implementation of sophisticated, unannounced, impartially-administered, random drug testing is the only way to turn the tide.

That said, one has to acknowledge that we live in the real world. If a mega-fight is canceled two days before its scheduled date because one of the combatants has tested positive for PEDs, it isn’t like saying, “Number 94 won’t be playing defensive tackle on Sunday.” In boxing, if a fighter is suspended, the fight doesn’t go on.

Big events are the economic engine that drives boxing. Canceling a mega-fight, particularly at the last minute, will result in tens of millions of dollars in lost income.

For that reason, it’s not unreasonable to suggest that, in certain instances, if a fighter tests positive for PEDs before a fight: (1) his opponent should have the choice of proceeding with the fight or not; (2) if the fight takes place, the fighter who has tested positive should forfeit 50 percent of his purse; and (3) the fighter who has tested positive should be suspended for a minimum of one year after the fight with the suspension being recognized by every jurisdiction in the United States.

Meanwhile, one has to ask: How many positive test results similar to those for Erik Morales (and possibly Floyd Mayweather) are there that we don’t know about? How many other samples have been destroyed in the manner of the samples taken from Peter Quillin and Winky Wright? What would happen if federal investigators put key players in boxing’s ongoing PED drama under oath?

Victor Conte says flatly, “I think the relationship between USADA and Golden Boy needs to be investigated.”

An Internet website isn’t the place to make judgments as to whether or not USADA has acted properly. Congress is. There’s an open issue as to whether USADA has become an instrument of accommodation. For an agency that tests United States Olympic athletes and receives in excess of $10,000,000 a year from the federal government, that’s a significant issue.

If USADA has violated appropriate protocols, the consequences could be enormous. If, in fact, USADA has made special accommodations for Golden Boy, one has to wonder how many times it has made similar accommodations for other athletes in the past.

This isn’t about a handful of athletes. It’s about the integrity of boxing and the well-being of all fighters.

Someday, if it hasn’t happened already, a fighter who has been using PEDs will kill his opponent in the ring. Thus, in closing, it’s worth remembering the thoughts of Emanuel Steward.

“Boxing isn’t like other sports,” Steward said several months before his death. “In boxing, a human being is getting hit in the head. None of us like to talk about it, but there’s a very real risk of brain damage. So to my way of thinking, anyone in boxing who’s part of using performance-enhancing drugs – I don’t care if it’s the fighter, the trainer, the strength coach, the conditioner, the manager, the promoter – that person is ruining the sport and doing something criminal.”

 

[Black_Jesus]

In the 90's it was very rare I'm sure 85% of those 90 fighters was roiding including Evan Fields, who Tyson asked for extra testing for





And the shyt is so foolish, and articles is all over the place USADA is in bed with GB somehow, and it's bigging up VADA, but lying ass Victor Conte Mr Steroid is one of their founders and works with them but they are credible.


If you watched the whole saga from a distance you would know whats what Arum has refused USADA but has said he would except VADA, these articles is simply putting a roadblock out their for a potential May vs Manny match, the battle this time USADA the most respected and credible organization vs VADA run by the most notorius drug dealer in the last 20 years


at Conte acting like he aint have shyt to do with Bonds and baseball, and it's also funny how 2 potential Floyd opponents got pooped by VADA who is touted by Arum

Hol up.... so you're saying their shouldn't be an investigation?








you laugh, but could it be that ?

 

[SuikodenII]

Victor Conte on Pacquiao (Joe Rogan show)

10-18-2012






to Nonito Donaire...

 

[Skip b]

Hol up.... so you're saying their shouldn't be an investigation?








you laugh, but could it be that ?

Did I say that.......Buttt


Investigation for what exactly Morales testing positive for miniscule amounts then them doing extra testing to make sure it was fully out of his system before Garcia felt comfortable to proceed with the fight, the chopice was Garcia's not GB or NY atheltic commision to proceed you do know this is well known right, the fight was in question up to a day before the match. The amounts were so small that there was no need to notify the athletic commission, a commission that didnt pay for the extra testing and a commission that wouldn't have caught it with their shytty testing system they have implemented. These BS articles aint getting no burn on Boxing sites because it's a complete smear campaign smearing USADA, Floyd, and GBP

 

[SuikodenII]

Boxing TV Ratings for Broner vs Escobedo outdo Manny Pacquiao & Amir Khan Numbers

By Johnny Benz, Doghouse Boxing. - The HBO Boxing After Dark card that featured Adrien Broner vs. Vicente Escobedo, and Keith Thurman this past Saturday , nabbed som pretty good TV ratings.

According to Richard Schaefer, the event was was one of the highest ratings for HBO's B.A.D. series.

Quoted by Ring TV,Schaefer speaking out on the TV ratings, stated: "The fight this weekend with Adrien Broner and Keith Thurman, the Boxing After Dark, produced an outstanding rating of 2.9. That's one of the highest ratings for Boxing After Dark, and it's a rating that is consistent with the ratings that HBO has for World Championship Boxing."

Schaefer added: "The main event (Broner TKO over Escobedo) was a 3.4 rating, which is the fourth-highest rated boxing event for HBO.

Schaefer then went on to add the numbers were more impressive that Amir Khan or a delayed Manny Pacquiao fight. "It was bigger than Khan versus Garcia, it was bigger than the Pacquiao delay, and this absolutely shows you that Adrien Broner has arrived and is going to be as big as they can be. This is absolutely outstanding."

Love him or hate him, he is now officially a made man...

 

[Skip b]

The Joe Rogan Experience #277 - Victor Conte, Brian Redban - YouTube

Victor Conte on Pacquiao (Joe Rogan show)

10-18-2012






to Nonito Donaire...

Nonito Donaire: No drug testing for the Jorge Arce fight is required [H.O.T.B.] - YouTube


This same Donaire who is declining testing for his upcoming match, more Arum fukkerry, this time with Conte in his corner, disgusting actually

 

[ℒℴѵℯJay ELECTUA]

GB made a mistake signing Khan IMO..Amir being muslim and having lack of character/appeal was tough then came his losses.

 

[Skip b]

GB made a mistake signing Khan IMO..Amir being muslim and having lack of character/appeal was tough then came his losses.

His obnoxious mouth was his problem, his fights are always exciting win or lose, and usually give that feel I had watching the great matches in the 90's, his big mouth is what make me want to see him get his neck caved in











Khan vs Broner would be great, sine Khan kept getting ko'ed yapping his mouth about Floyd

 

[GzUp]

[ame=http://youtu.be/ePsvZkV97fo]Wladimir Klitschko's tribute to Emanuel Steward - YouTube[/ame]