Tony Thompsons doping comments

[Master]

That is giving up to the drug cheats. Anyone caught knowingly taking drugs should be facing criminal charges for attempted murder and be at least banned for life. There should be no room for the Armstrong's of this world.

[erics44]

some sort of middle ground might be a good solution

[Beanflicker]

I don't think it's completely unreasonable thing to say for him. Being niave fans, we want to believe PED use is limited to a select few bad guys, but the truth is I doubt if there are any current champs who aren't using or haven't used something at some point in their careers.

A lot of time it comes down to whether or not you have the money to shell out for the drugs and the experts to help you with your cycles and make sure it's left the body at drug test time. So in that way, it does give the bigger, richer fighter the advantage over those with limited budgets.

I think legalizing it would be a lot safer than the current state, because at least then it's out in the open and you can regulate and monitor it easier. It's like any other drugs: people are going to use them anyway.

I think most fans have a erroneous view of what steroids actually does for a fighter. It's not Rocky 4 where they turn a guy's hands into deadly weapons. The usage of PED's in boxing would be a) to recoup quicker and maintain muscle mass during the highly cardio-intensive boxing training camps and b) for endurance (EPO). It sucks that PED's have become to big in sports today, but that's the world we live in.

And there is a huge legal PED loophole that athletes use called hormone replacement therapy. You go to the doctor, claim you feel tired often, and he'll prescribe you testosterone injections that are fully legal as long as you disclose them to the athletic commision.

[Beanflicker]

That is giving up to the drug cheats. Anyone caught knowingly taking drugs should be facing criminal charges for attempted murder and be at least banned for life. There should be no room for the Armstrong's of this world.

You do that and boxing is going to be missing a ton of it's champs.