They had a choice to make and chose to use VADA over USADA.
VADA, USADA, AND YADA YADA YADA
By Ben Dean
Boxing has a performance enhancing drugs problem. That is hardly breaking news to anyone who follows the sport. What perhaps is a new reality is that the sport is in a holding pattern standing at a crossroads. It stands upon the precipice with the opportunity to fully and comprehensively get it right. Or perhaps it opts for a stop-gap measure, which somewhat addresses this dilemma, but as with a lot of things in boxing doesn’t go quite far enough.
Several years ago, Floyd Mayweather Jr. went on record as saying that boxing had a dirty little secret: a performance enhancing drugs problem. At the time he was widely blasted and criticized by a large portion of the media. He was openly accused of being “afraid” of Manny Pacquaio by a sizeable portion of the press. Some felt Mayweather was scared of Pacquaio. Others felt Floyd was justified in requesting not only Pacquaio, but all of his future opponents to submit to the same randomized blood and urine testing that he would submit to for the rest of his career.
Regardless of which side of the issue you fall on, one thing is undeniable. As randomized testing became more prominent in boxing, there was an increased frequency of high-profile positive results lending credence to what Mayweather voiced about the sport being dirtier than people know. Perhaps Mayweather was not given and still isn’t receiving enough credit for being a pioneering voice behind pushing for a clean and level playing field in the sport.
Nonito Donaire is widely hailed and given much credit for voluntarily submitting to randomized blood and urine testing. He’s frequently applauded as if he is the first boxer to request randomized testing of any form. Historically, that’s not true. Where he’s to be applauded is that he’s the first fighter that requested to be tested 24/7, 365 days a year. This is an important precedent, the premise of out of competition testing.
While the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s (USADA) presence in the sport (at the request of Mayweather and Golden Boy Promotions) introduced randomized blood and urine testing into boxing, the need for more intricate and complex testing underlined by their presence also opened other doors.
In walks Dr. Margaret Goodman and the Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency or VADA. What VADA has been able to accomplish in just a short time period has been nothing short of impressive.
VADA employs Carbon Isotope Ratio testing (CIR). By most accounts this testing is more sensitive and also more accurate for detecting synthetic testosterone in an athlete’s system. This testing was responsible for detecting elevated levels of synthetic testosterone in Lamont Peterson. VADA’s testing also found a banned substance in Andre Berto’s sample. Two high-profile rematches (Peterson vs. Amir Khan, and Berto vs. Victor Ortiz) went up in smoke. Therein lies boxing’s dilemma. Promoters are in a precarious situation. Huge amounts of promotional money stand to be flushed down the toilet should a fighter test positive forcing the cancellation of an event. However, as a promoter shouldn’t you want to know that your fighter is clean?
Boxing is a business, so of course promoters have their bottom line. However, isn’t it possible to do good business WHILE infusing integrity into the sport? Are the two mutually exclusive? A healthy and vibrant sport can be great for business, and the influx of integrity should not be seen as a threat. If it is seen as such, then boxing promoters are falling under the same blind ambition that befell baseball owners (who turned a blind eye to the steroid problem), in ignoring their dirty secret in a tradeoff for profit and business.
In order for boxing to make a clean stand against PEDS, there must be consequences with teeth in them. In track and field (governed in the U.S. by USADA) a first time offender typically received a two-year ban. Should they be a repeat offender they are looking at four to eight years, if not a lifetime ban. These athletes (running, jumping and throwing) aren’t even punching anyone in the face. Take the recent example of Mickey Bey. His positive drug test (reportedly 2nd highest in recorded history of the Nevada State Athletic Comission) netted him a mere three- month suspension. That is beyond a joke. Considering most fighters don’t fight again until after three months time, it resulted in him missing no in-ring time at all. If the consequences of being a PED offender has no teeth, there is little to no deterrent for an athlete not to use. This lack of teeth is not relegated solely to PED use either.
Perhaps the more eregious offender of modern times was Antonio Margarito, attempting to enter the ring to fight Shane Mosley with a hardened plaster-like substance in his wraps. This was the sort of substance that when placed into someone’s gloves could’ve killed someone in the ring. Caught in the locker room prior to the fight, he was forced to enter the ring fair. Minus his loaded wraps, he was beaten down and knocked out by Mosley. He was subsequently and rightfully suspended from boxing. Some felt he deserved a ban. His promoter (Bob Arum) vehemently argued he was being mistreated and lobbied strongly for his return to the sport. His suspension lasted just one year, and his promotional outfit was eager to welcome him back into the sport. Of course the almighty bottom line. Back in the sport and having beaten no one of significance to get back in line so to speak, he was rewarded with one of the biggest money fights in boxing; A Manny Pacquaio fight. But I digress.
While it is good to see an influx of the randomization of blood and urine testing in boxing, there are still some key provisions that keep us from crossing over to the land of promise. While there are refreshingly positive examples like VADA which teach us that there are cost-effective ways to operate, while delivering the most sensitive and accurate testing in boxing, there are still promotional entities paying monumentally more money for what appears to be more primitive testing. This is problematic in two ways.
One is that if the promotional companies themselves are contracting directly with testing agencies, this creates a direct and inherent conflict of interest. It creates the same dilemma that we currently have with judges and how they are paid. Until state athletic commissions begin contracting with outside testing agencies, or there is a governing oversight body this conflict of interest will persist. You wouldn’t want to go play the Miami Heat on Miami’s home floor, if you found out the refs for the game were all paid by the Heat (and not the league). A fighter could rightfully similarly be leery at the prospect of fighting someone of a different promotional company that has already contractually retained drug testing services of an agency of THEIR choice. Especially, if there is a public perception of the relationship between the doping agency and the promotional company, and it is deemed a cozy one. You’ve heard the old adage, perception is reality.
The other problematic aspect lies in the following, which poses a major question. If VADA testing reportedly costs $10,000 (for a more specific test) and USADA costs $100,000 (for a less specific test), what exactly does that other $90,000 buy you? If gas on the nearest corner to you is $3.99 a gallon, would you travel across town and pay $39.99 a gallon for that same tank of gas? Thus far, there has been no logical explanation put forth by USADA as to why VADA is able to do more accurate testing for 1/10th of the cost.
There also exists the curious case of Erik Morales and his status leading up to his rematch with Danny Garcia. Morales would be banned by USADA for two years, AFTER he was allowed to fight despite having failed multiple drug tests in the lead up to his fight with Garcia. If the whole purpose of testing for performance enhancements is to make sure neither fighter has an unfair advantage. Where is the equity in allowing the fighter with positive results to proceed and enter the ring where an opponent’s life is at risk?
VADA seems to have established itself as a pioneer on the frontier revolutionizing the clean-up of combat sports. Can the other entities and mechanisms in boxing follow suit and be equally revolutionary on the cutting edge? We have much more at stake than baseball had. Home runs went farther, muscles grew and people’s hat sizes were rumored to increase four sizes. For decades no one got close to 60 home runs. Suddenly, two players did in one year, with one doing it three times in four seasons. All of a sudden someone hits upwards of 70 homeruns. Baseball implemented a steroid policy, and the power numbers all but disappeared. THEY were talking balls, strikes and how hard someone can hit a ball. WE are talking life, death, and people being hit in the head. Boxing, we have much more at stake.
http://www.boxingtalk.com/pag/article.php?aid=25152
And there are PLENTY more articles on where they say VADA is stricter than USADA on testing and that's why I say VADA > USADA and any boxer who doesnt takes VADA tests is a suspect imo
