Boxer Erik Morales banned for two years for failed drug test

Source is the BBC web site

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/boxing/21908211

So, is this the end of his career, considering he has been fighting for twenty years?

Has to be. Maybe he was going to retire anyway, it was a heavy KO he suffered against Garcia.

What surprised me the most is how the allowed him to fight in the first place. Didn't he test positive for clenbuterol well before the fight?

Seems a bit harsh in comparison to other doping violations (in boxing)?

Does this put a question mark over his career? Eric Morales, drug cheat. Mexican great? Boxing seems like the only sport where it doesn't really matter. Consider Ben Johnson.

he's banned from fighting in the US, not anywhere else. boxingscene quote him saying he's not arsed and will have a farewell fight in meh-hiko

personally, I don't believe for a second Morales was a career drug cheat. He just cut corners at the end to make weight. No excuses and he should be banned. Stupid of him though, because question marks can now be raised. Retire El Terrible.

Seanusarrilius wrote:personally, I don't believe for a second Morales was a career drug cheat. He just cut corners at the end to make weight. No excuses and he should be banned. Stupif of him though, because question marks can now be raised. Retire El Terrible.

I agree that he probably took clembuterol to cut weight quickly.

It's hard to know when the drug problem really started in boxing. My guess is the 1970's with the problem getting progressively worse with every following decade. Steroids could be bought over the counter without a prescription in America up until 1981. With this in mind there is a reasonable possibility that 1990's fighters were using in increased numbers.

was probably going to retire anyway, it wasnt a PED so seems a bit harsh

KO-KING wrote:was probably going to retire anyway, it wasnt a PED so seems a bit harsh

Governing body wants to show they are doing something so dish out a big (comparatively harsh) ban to a guy they know was retiring anyway.

seanmichaels wrote:

KO-KING wrote:was probably going to retire anyway, it wasnt a PED so seems a bit harsh

Governing body wants to show they are doing something so dish out a big (comparatively harsh) ban to a guy they know was retiring anyway.

where was this against guys like peterson

The only good news regarding this is that it'll hasten Morales' retirement, which should have come years ago. Some would argue that his return has enhanced his legacy a little bit - not for me, though.

It's alarming how quickly 'El Terrible' fell apart after that brilliant win against Pacquiao, which deserves to be remembered as one of the greatest by any fighter since the turn of the century. It's interesting that, after that win, Morales stated he felt as if he'd reached his absolute zenith and, by doing something that his arch rival Barrera couldn't do in handing Pacquiao a loss, he felt he had gained a unique satisfaction and sense of closure with his career and, as a result, could never quite get himself up for any subsequent fights he's had since.

Had he listened to his heart then and walked away, how highly would we be rating him, and how much better still would that victory over Pacquiao be looking had it never been avenged?

KO-KING wrote:

seanmichaels wrote:

KO-KING wrote:was probably going to retire anyway, it wasnt a PED so seems a bit harsh

Governing body wants to show they are doing something so dish out a big (comparatively harsh) ban to a guy they know was retiring anyway.

where was this against guys like peterson

I suspect they knew Morales wouldn't challenge the ban.

When the UFC first started, it pitted guys who were proficient in different martial arts to see who was the best, maybe they should adopt a similar approach with drugs.

When a fight is announced they should have a tombola on stage and then they can pull out a piece of paper with their chosen drug. "For the next six weeks fighter A will be using HGH and Fighter B will be off his face on disco biscuits."

I wonder how long he's been using that? He used to look like a human skeleton -- even in his pomp.

I thought he tested positive from eating contaminated beef in any case?

What a lark all of this PED business is. Morales couldn't give a flying f***. Why should he? No-one cares that Mosley, Berto and Peterson tested positive, so why should he worry?

seanmichaels wrote:

KO-KING wrote:was probably going to retire anyway, it wasnt a PED so seems a bit harsh

Governing body wants to show they are doing something so dish out a big (comparatively harsh) ban to a guy they know was retiring anyway.

Think you have nailed it Sean, one would have to wonder if the governing bodies would have been so tough if Erik was in his mid 20s rather than his mid 30s. Easy to play tough with someone who was not certain to lace them up again irrespective.

Only need to look at cheat Peterson's 'sentence' by comparison.....

Read something the other day about the Peterson v Holt test results. Some kind of controversy that they haven't released them in detail, just declared them negative which apparently is unusual. Claiming patient confidentiality.

I can't believe Peterson would be so stupid to cheat again.

88Chris05 wrote:The only good news regarding this is that it'll hasten Morales' retirement, which should have come years ago. Some would argue that his return has enhanced his legacy a little bit - not for me, though.

It's alarming how quickly 'El Terrible' fell apart after that brilliant win against Pacquiao, which deserves to be remembered as one of the greatest by any fighter since the turn of the century. It's interesting that, after that win, Morales stated he felt as if he'd reached his absolute zenith and, by doing something that his arch rival Barrera couldn't do in handing Pacquiao a loss, he felt he had gained a unique satisfaction and sense of closure with his career and, as a result, could never quite get himself up for any subsequent fights he's had since.

Had he listened to his heart then and walked away, how highly would we be rating him, and how much better still would that victory over Pacquiao be looking had it never been avenged?

i find that very easy to beleive, i can't think of any recent fights that had the intensity of the barrera/morales/pac man triangle. and i think he would have known that it was highly unlikely to be replicated.

that said im still glad he returned, the maidana fight was very competitive and entertaining, as was the first garcia fight, and he did pick up a title.

I just read that it was USADA that imposed the ban, which essentially means nothing.

The governing bodies will decide whether he would fight again and have an agreed sign off from the state athletic commissions. For example: WBC grant the fight and the promoter would then book somewhere like Texas (where USADA aren't used in boxing) and the fight could be made.

Sad isn't it!

hazharrison wrote:I wonder how long he's been using that? He used to look like a human skeleton -- even in his pomp.

I thought he tested positive from eating contaminated beef in any case?

What a lark all of this PED business is. Morales couldn't give a flying f***. Why should he? No-one cares that Mosley, Berto and Peterson tested positive, so why should he worry?

Morales never took a ped

KO-KING wrote:

hazharrison wrote:I wonder how long he's been using that? He used to look like a human skeleton -- even in his pomp.

I thought he tested positive from eating contaminated beef in any case?

What a lark all of this PED business is. Morales couldn't give a flying f***. Why should he? No-one cares that Mosley, Berto and Peterson tested positive, so why should he worry?

Morales never took a ped

Clenbuterol is a well known PED (it's been found in cyclists, Mexican soccer players and Major League Baseball) and as it was in his system it would indicate that Morales took one form of clenbuterol - either as a weight loss aid or as type B2 (in which case if it is a B2 then he would have used a chemically masked adrenergic).

So technially, Morales took a PED.