Another Day - Another Drug Test Failed

We should hardly be surprised anymore but Dan Rafael is reporting on Twitter than Lucien Bute is the latest fighter to fail a drug test. He apparently failed in the wake of his recent draw with Badou Jack. At the risk of stating the bleeding obvious is beginning to appear the sport has a genuine problem.

Can only speak for myself but I find this immensely troubling, boxing is not running, it is not football or athletics, it is punching people in the face for a living. Can one imagine the implications if in a fight where someone is injured seriously it later transpires the person doing the injuring is juicing. The abolitionists would rightly have a field day. There is a certain depressing irony that the sport that has the most to risk from drug abuse seems to have the most laissez faire approach to both testing and punishing abusers.

Just my opinion, but I reckon a very high percentage use. In all sports. Sad I know. It's just my opinion.

I think they need to revise the approach to banned substances. The list of banned substances grows all the time which increases the probability of genuine mistakes causing fails, contamination etc. It must be a minefield for an athlete trying to naigate what they can and cant take and what might or might not be in a certain medications, food, supplements etc.

It happening widespread, its obvious its happening. So accept there is only so much you can do and focus on the eradicating the most serious peds and leave the rest of it available.

problem is rowley... it  isn't just that boxing as a sport is the most at risk from PED abuse ... and individual boxers the most at risk as athletes from an opponent juicing.

Boxers also:
- work in a macho/gym environment
- participate in a sport where one defeat can have a catastrophic effect on their future earnings
- participate in a sport with no one central governing body to control testing and punishment... and with a dreadful record on testing

add in that tipping point you have in any sport where drug use is rife... where the feeling is if your opponent likely is taking PEDS, then you are at a disadvantage if you don't.

I genuinely don't know how widespread PED use is now or has been in the past, but there's sure as hell means and motive.