Doping In Boxing

I think the reasons and the uses vary.

Clearly, some boxers, like Jarrell Miller, use them obsessively and feel they would never have even reached the heights they did without them. You can look at his early pro fights, and he looks like Buster Mathis Jr. He's just a small shouldered guy with a fat waist and boobs. With the PEDs, whe became a pretty bulked up beast who was blowing away everyone. He had to keep taking them even though he knew he'd get caught - and he kept getting caught - because his whole identity was wrapped up in them.

Same with Shannon Briggs. He might be EXHIBIT A when it comes to this. I don't think he did it for a lot of his early fights. But, for the latter half of his career, I think he just lived on them. Even after he retired. They became part of his lifestyle.

Others, I believe, use them for an added boost when they feel like they aren't quite confident of a win and convince themselves the risk is worth the gamble. I believe Tyson Fury and Juan Manuel Marquez fall into this category.

I don't believe Fury was using for most of his bouts. But he did against Wlad, because he wanted to be his absolute best. I don't think he was using against any of his comeback opponents, not even against Wilder in fight one or Wallin. But I think he clearly was using some combination of things in fight 2 against Wilder. In the days after the win, I was actually surprised they didn't announce Fury tested positive. He was clearly on a different level strength wise than for any bout prior. He was very heavy but not flabby (for him). And, before the third fight, when Fury was dropping so much weight, looking thin and apparently getting knocked around in sparring, I don't think he was using. But I believe there's a good chance he'll hop back on the "stuff" for fight 3. Because whatever he was doing last month wasn't working for him.

Same with Marquez, particularly against Pac in their last meeting. I think Marquez was clean for most of pro fights. He was still drinking his own urine before the Mayweather fight, for God's sake. He clearly wasn't "hip" to all the latest training advances. But by fight 4, I think Marquez just decided to go for it and he was juiced to the gills for that one. It was his last shot. He desperately wanted to win. He figured Pac had been using for years, why not go for it. And he did (IMO).

And I believe there are people who take them when their careers are clearly coming to an end and they need something to give them a jump and maybe extend their years at the top for a while longer. Povetkin was a doughy guy nearly losing to cruiserweights like Marco Huck at one point. He was aging like normal fighters do. And I think his second run at the top was largely due to the help of PEDs. It was also around the time all the amateur athletes in Russia were banned from the Olympics due to government sponsored PED use for its athletes. So, it would've been fairly easy for Povetkin to also do. And I don't even think he passed a drug test in 2016, or he failed more than he passed, as he had fights with Wilder and Stiverne fall out over his failed tests. James Toney was another guy in this category. Not a user in his lighter days. Definitely a user in his heavyweight days. Caught repeatedly in his heavyweight days.

Finally, I think some go back and forth with them. Use them. Stop. Use them. Stop. And you're never sure if they ever quite got off them or not. Dillian Whyte was banned for two years early in his career for using them. Then he has had positive tests that were appealed in recent years that were kind of dismissed. He's the type of guy I'm never sure what I'm seeing with him.

So, I think it varies. Some just depend on it for their whole careers - like Miller. Some need an added boost for certain important fights when they believe a win is worth the gamble - like Fury and Marquez. Some do it when they don't want to retire and think they could use them to allow them one more push to the top - like Povetkin and Toney.

I still don't believe most do it their entire careers. Those who are obsessive about it, like Miller or Briggs, tend to stand out.

 

1. Failing a test with multiple samples (Sample A, B) is the simplest criteria for myself.
   
2. Clear changes in the physical nature especially in older fighters.

 

Wow, you sure let Clenelo off the hook

 

Privately Contracted Drug Testing (Chemweather)

Ultra Last Minute Fight Announcements (Chemweather, Clenelo)

Very Late Stage Muscle Growth, Power, and Stamina Increase (Roidquez)

Ultra Low T/E Ratios (Chemweather)

TUE (Chemweather)

 

After Lance Armstrong, how can anyone take clean sports seriously.

I have just made piece that everyone juices at the top level.

However it is morally and legally wrong, therefore I fully support bans for anyone who's caught as it sends out the right message.

 

Yeah and he's reaped the most benefits owing to his PED use, he wasn't able to get Matthew Hatton out despite banging him from pillar to post and suddenly he's got knockout power at 168 .

 

People are uneducated regarding anti-doping policy and governance, which is ineffective and corrupt. People also don't have a clue about pharmaceuticals.

All top level athletes are on the hot sauce, and there's nothing wrong with that. But it's hilarious to see fans who are completely clueless bring up "drug cheat" and such things.

These people will mouth off on the forum all day and they don't realise how easy it is to administer testosterone or EPO, when all it would take is for them to read a book or open up X, Y or Z policy which states that athletes cannot be tested between the hours of 00:00 and 08:00 and that EPO has a halflife of 4/5 hours.

This is not even a boring subject, so the lethargy of fans is unforgivable and people will continue to look stupid.

 

All drug cheats need to be banned from sports.

 

I base it on the fact that PEDs are highly accessible, the possibility of being caught is miniscule, doping technology is almost always a step ahead of anti-doping testing, and competing without PEDs has not only become increasingly difficult, but nearly impossible in many cases. In regard to boxing, we are also dealing with participants who come from poor backgrounds, meaning they have less to fall back on if they fail. This isn't baseball where many have college degrees and therefore a solid backup plan. Winning and losing is more of a zero sum game. PEDs can potentially be the difference in gaining life-altering money or going back to poverty.

The only time I believe a guy is not using is if there are good reasons to suspect that he is a man of principle. He voluntarily does 24/7/365 testing for VADA, insists that his opponents take stringent testing, etc.

 

There would be very few top guys left if that was the case. PED use is endemic in pro and amateur (Olympics) sports. When victory vs defeat is often on a such a razors edge any perceived advantage will be grasped at by a hardcore competitor.

 

Fury wasn't even caught on PEDs for the Wlad fight so that whole theory has gone up in smoke.

 

Agree 100%

 

Should we include guys who fail to take tests when the doping lab comes calling?

That would eliminate the majority of the Ring top 10 from the start of this year: Tyson Fury, Dillian Whyte, Luis Ortiz, Alexander Povetkin, Joseph Parker and Mike Hunter.

Wilder-Joshua-Ruiz-Usyk. The top four clean fighters. Is Joshua clean?

Wilder-Ruiz-Usyk. (LOL)

 

Every single professional athlete is doping in some sort of way. The difference is who gets caught. The athletes getting caught either kept themself on the juice closer to the event to get an advantage, or bribed their way to bypass tests, or are just plain dumb about how to mask their test results.
It's naive to think anyone performing at that level is a 100% full natty brah.