How prevalent do you think PED use is in boxing

Hmm.. maybe.. but I don't see how. Anabolic steroids to creatine is like percocets to Tylenol.. isn't it?

Mark McGuire got "busted" for creatine, though, I think.

 

Truth is nobody really knows.

I suspect it is rampant at the top level where boxers are making sizable money and can afford the best advice and assistance to cheat and be hard to catch.

 

Imo everybody that makes money at it is on PEDs. The real question is if they use the ones currently deemed illegal. Have said this before, but if I'm getting 10+ million per fight I have a chemist changing the molecular structure of the most effective enhancements to allow me to remain in compliance. Stay ahead of the regs. Why not? Violates the spirit of the rules but it's all about the lawyers, right?

 

How people usually answer this is dependant on how they view PEDs. The 100% crowd usually view them as magic compounds that can turn man into machine. The reality is that (most) PEDs are simply naturally occuring compounds taken exogenously in order to improve some aspect of performance. Whilst the application is unnatural the effects are 'natural', so to speak, especially in this era when microdosing is favoured (3 main compounds being test, hgh and epo). They benefit you but they don't turn you into superman.

Why do I say this? Because some fighters have legitimately monstrous advantages already just due to their genetics. Think of a Sugar Ray Robinson for example. No matter how much you roided up an average area level fighter, they would never have Sugar Ray's gifts. PEDs can't replace real talent. Boxing is also a sport where you only need to be physical enough to implement a strategy to win - it's not pure physicality like sprinting etc. You can be physically 'inferior' in every way and still win.

All this is to say that I think the narrative around roids has gone the opposite way round. We've gone from it being unknown to the assumption everyone is on it, which lately I have started to disagree with. It's gotten to the point people are accusing basically every fighter from the 80s, 70s and even some 60s fighters which is just ridiculous imo. I personally don't think every top fighter is on roids and Donaire would probably be a great example of that.

 

Universal.

 

Lower then it was in the late 90s and the early 00s. That was the peak of PED use in sporting endeavors.

 

its crazy how little people seem to care about boxers being caught and how little the authorities seem to care unlike UFC they get proper suspensions and seems to be taken more seriously