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Performance enhancing drugs (commonly referred to as PEDs) have reared their ugly head in boxing over the last few years.
High profile fighters such as James Toney, Lamont Peterson and Andre Berto have failed pre or post-fight drug tests which have tarnished the results or cancelled much anticipated bouts in the last 10 years.
Drug testing is one of the hurdles preventing a fight between superstars Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao.
But a question that is not often asked is what are the drug testing requirements for boxers in Australia?
For someone who is uneducated in boxing you have amateur and professional boxing. Amateur boxing is what you see in the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games, where the fights are smaller and generally fought at a higher pace.
Professional boxing is where you see the likes of Anthony Mundine, Daniel Geale and the occasional rugby league player trading blows. The gloves are lighter, the rules are more lenient, the fights are longer and the combatants get paid.
For those reasons professional boxing is more dangerous than amateur boxing.
So generally, one would assume that professional boxers in Australia would be subject to more rigorous drug testing. A search on the Australian National Boxing Federation (ANBF) website, under rules and regulations, brings up a page and a half devoted to anti-doping testing.
To sum up their policy, a fighter’s trainer may request (and pay for) a post-fight drug test if he observes symptoms that warrant a test (clause 23.2), the ringside doctor may also order this test and the drug testing will be a laboratory analysis of the boxer’s urine (Clause 23.5).
Anyone with knowledge of PEDs knows that a lot of drugs won’t be identified with a urine test and that a lot of doping is done during training for an event, so a post-fight urine test is redundant when it comes to catching a lot of PEDs.
The recent peptides scandal that has caused numerous drug violation suspensions for the Cronulla Sharks and Essendon Bombers were caught without failed drug tests because peptides can’t be caught via urine testing.
The Australian Amateur Boxing Association, on the other hand, has a 46-page anti-doping policy and is overseen by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Association (ASADA). They test fighters pre and post-fight in big competitions, and they also have links to the ASADA website which lists banned substances for each individual sport.
From talking to numerous professional boxers who I am in contact with regularly, most of them state they have never been tested before or after a professional bout.
Considering the risks in professional boxing, wouldn’t it be a priority not to have your combatants under the influence of PEDs? It isn’t like a track and field event or swimming, rugby league or AFL where cheating can result in a victory, boxers put their life on the line every time they step in the ring.
And while I’m on the topic of the NRL and boxing, there is a big boxing event on in Australia this coming Wednesday, a fight between two world rated Australians, Daniel Geale and Jarrod Fletcher. I’m concerned about the drug testing for this card and not because of Geale or Fletcher, two men who have won Commonwealth Games gold medals and fought overseas for world titles where the drug testing is stricter.
On the undercard is NSW Blues captain Paul Gallen having his second professional boxing match. Gallen just recently finished serving a suspension as a result of the 2011 peptides scandal. What I would like to know is what measures have been taken to ensure Gallen hasn’t illegally built his body up in order to inflict damage on another human being.
Gallen made his debut on the undercard of Daniel Geale versus Garth Wood in February of this year. Did the ANBF consider stripping him of his boxing licence considering he was serving a drug suspension in another sport? Considering the serious injuries that do occur in boxing, I think these are definitely questions that are worth asking.
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