Billy Joe Saunders suspended 6 months by WBO!

Looks like Billy Joe Sinus just got stuffed with some sick days.

 

The act of eating meat is not an act of cheating. If you go to a resataurant in Mexico and order a piece of meat, it doesn't come with a notice listing what is in the meat, it doesn't say there is this % of clenbuterol in it, for example.

However, when you take a prescription, or use a nasal spray, for example, it lists all the ingredients of what's in that nasal spray or perscription on the bottle so there's no excuse for not knowing what's in it or if there's something in it on the VADA banned substances list. When eating meat at a restaurant, there's no way for the consumer to know specifically every substance that is in that piece of meat.

 

Great news!

 

Whilst I may agree with some of that, the idea that an athlete has failed a test due to contaminated meat is something that I find very hard to accept. It sounds like an excuse, and a poor one at that.

 

It's an absolute nonsense isn't it.

 

It's just the WBO. That organization has always been a bit of a joke to me anyway.

 

Ironically it's Warrens favourite.

 

Well it sounds like an excuse because it's a very common excuse that's been used by a lot of athletes who fail tests. However many of those athletes who have used that as an excuse don't live in Mexico where there is a very real well documented contaminated meat problem.

If you don't live in Mexico, then you would have no real idea of what goes on there as far as what gets put in the meat. WADA recognizes the contaminated meat problem in Mexico and other sports organizations like NFL also recognize it and they advise NFL players not to eat meat while in Mexico to avoid testing positive accidentally.

So it's a legitimate excuse in Mexico, especially for those who live in Mexico, and is recognized as such by WADA, but not in the USA or other places where what goes into meat is better controlled. It may sound like a poor excuse because it's an excuse that gets used a lot by athletes that test positive, even in cases where they don't live in a country with a known contaminated meat problem or where the levels are higher than what is known to be consistent with contaminated meat. In Canelo's case, he tested for extremely low amounts while living in a country with a contaminated meat problem, and it was several months before a fight.

On the contrary, BJS has no such legitimiate excuse for his failed test, as if he did use a nasal spray it would list all the ingredients on the packaging including any banned substances. So it's a completely different situation, and BJS's excuse is much worse and way more worthy of criticism and condemnation.

 

I wanted him to school GGG and Canelo more than most.....

However I don't feel sorry for him, actually he deserves it.

I think he was blatantly cheating, and using this "in training" definition to beat the system.

This is a higher level of cheating than Canelo. BJS is an idiot and deserves every punishment he gets. I don't know how any can have sympathy for him and on the other hand ridicule Canelo.

 

I didn't say Canelo wasn't responsible for it. He took full responsibiity for it, he agreed to a 6 month suspension and cancellation of the bout pending further testing.

I don't know why you're using a "USADA" report from 2011 (I see it was updated in 2016) as many consider USADA to be an extremely corrupt organization compared to VADA or WADA which has more detailed information on clenbuterol and meat contamination. The USADA guidelines you posted aren't clear and unambiguous at all. The information in that link says almost nothing about the levels that WADA considers consistent with meat contamination.

What your USADA link does say it this :

Clenbuterol and Results Management
Despite the continuously improving analytical methods in sports drug testing, especially using sensitive mass spectrometry, it remains difficult to determine if clenbuterol has been deliberately administered or unintentionally ingested through contaminated meat.

So anotherwords, as of 2016 they have no way to know if an athlete who tested positive for clenbuterol, especially those who live in Mexico, cheated or not. Cheating would be to take clenbuterol knowingly in pharmacological pill form or by somehow knowing for certain that a piece of meat had clenbuterol in it, which I don't see how you would know that especially if you are eating at a restaurant for example.

So it's not at all the same (you said "same goes for BJS"). The same does not go for BJS since he lives in the U.K. which does not have a known contaminated meat clenbuterol problem. So no, if BJS tested for clenbuterol while living in the U.K. using contaminated meat as an excuse would not be as likely to be believed since there isn't a contaminated meat problem there. Understand?

And further, with BJS we aren't talking about contaminated meat at all. We're talking about Saunders using a "nasal spray" as an excuse where there is a list of ingredients on it, unlike in a Mexico contaminated meat situation where there is no list of ingredients like what % of clenbuterol is in the piece of meat you're eating. Comprende?

 

The length of these bans are sure creeping down. Canelo got 6 months we are all up in arms, Saunders gets 6 months and its well if its good enough for Canelo its good enough for Saunders, next guy to get busted gets 6 months and everybodys like yeah thats normal length for a ban.

A fighter gets injured in a camp, it takes 6 months to get stuff sorted. Its like missing 1 fight.

 

They weren’t using steroids and were first time offenders.

 

Well we were up in arms with what happened to Canelo because it derailed the biggest fight of the year and other fighters from Mexico who tested positive in the past for clenbuterol / meat contamination at greater levels and didn't get suspended at all. Canelo was held to a completely different standard but that was said to have a lot to do with the NSAC's recently revised rules regarding positive tests which no matter you test for or what the levels are it results in an automatic suspesion. (which IIR wasn't the case in California where other Mexican fighters had that happen to and were allowed to fight)

Considering how Mexican boxers in the past were treated when they tested positive (no punishment, no suspension) and used meat contamination as an excuse, there was really no grounds for Canelo to have been suspended at all. I think we can all agree that BJS is much more deserving of a 6 month suspension that Canelo was since we know BJS was knowingly and intentionally cheating by sticking banned stuff up his nose, while with Canelo we don't know that since the likelihood of accidental meat contamination is very high.

 

Should be a year minimum.

 

First time you've been truthful...