Andre Ward has refused to participate in the VADA testing

[armin]

I should know better by now but judgin ward on his fight style and behavior outside the ring I think he's clean and if this shit had been included in the contract he would honor it.

[p4pking]

I think it's absurd to expect any fighter to submit to testing that they aren't required to, or hold them as being more suspect for not doing so. Who on earth wants to be comprehensively drug tested under any circumstance? If it's optional, people are not going to do it and nor should they, the only way to resolve this is have it standardized and that's a long way from happening.

[ruthless rocco]

it may be absurd to expect someone to test themselves beyond the limit of the rules as the currently stand... but Ward said he would do the testing and since saying that, hasn't. there's the problem...and its only amplified when you take into consideration his relationship with Victor Conte who is an admitted steroid supplier/nutritionist.

[Ron Swanson]

Peope keep mentioning his connection to Conte without noting the elephant in the room. Conte made designer steroids that couldn't be caught until someone sent a sample to the testing agencies to study. So he very well could have made another steroid that can't be detected. So given his association with Conte testing means fuck all to prove innocence. Testing can only prove guilt.

As for Donaire, sure he tests year round but he had the same Conte association sohe can never be innocent in my eyes. Testing or not. He might and probably is innocent but again testing means fuck all.

And FTR many people test year round now. Bradley does, all of Mayweather Promotions does ever since Love got popped for a diarrhetic.

Should Ward test, yes. But all of boxing should test. But it has to be independent because it is not in the organizations best interests to catch fighters. That's why they test after fights, they want the fights to happen. You aren't protecting anyone catching cheats after the fact.

I hope Ward makes a show of this, refusing testing and letting everyone know he's about to make a point. Then after the weigh in he tells the media he's juiced to the gills and going to kill his opponent. At that moment you create a huge story that could force real change. Then he tests clean after the fight and says I was just making a point. The BS of the system would be caught and it would be front page news.

Imagine the commissioners explaining that there was nothing they could do under the rules until after the fight. All hell would break loose on such a preposterous failed and faulty system that is clearly designed to fail. The squirming of the commissioners in front of Congress would be glorious.

Or maybe I'm drunk and need to go to bed.

[p4pking]

it may be absurd to expect someone to test themselves beyond the limit of the rules as the currently stand... but Ward said he would do the testing and since saying that, hasn't. there's the problem...and its only amplified when you take into consideration his relationship with Victor Conte who is an admitted steroid supplier/nutritionist.

I'm sure he still would do the testing if it were ever a matter of making a fight happen or any sort of career advancement, this seems to be a case where it was never expected though. I don't know how shady working with Conte is at all either, I'm sure the guy has all sorts of perfectly legal tricks and he's clearly an expert in his field.

[Beanflicker]

Conte is a master sports nutritionist who was making a killing well before he got into the steroid dealing business. And he's been caught and done jail time for providing steroids to athletes... why would he risk going back to the slammer?

In the end, I think this discussion proves one thing, and that is that the AC's are completely useless and they need to revamp their testing. It's not the athletes responsibility to pay out of pocket to prove their clean. This is a task for the athletic commission.

[TitoFan]

I think this is all pretty much straightforward.

It is the responsibility of the boxing governing bodies to seek and provide the most effective means available to perform drug testing. It is the fighters' responsibilities to agree to and submit to whatever this testing is, provided it is done equally to both fighters in any particular fight.

Everything else is superfluous and can be safely disregarded.

[jehoshaphat]

it may be absurd to expect someone to test themselves beyond the limit of the rules as the currently stand... but Ward said he would do the testing and since saying that, hasn't. there's the problem...and its only amplified when you take into consideration his relationship with Victor Conte who is an admitted steroid supplier/nutritionist.

Ward never said he would do the testing. It wasn't even brought up in negotiations. Even in the press conference Ward never agreed to Rodriguez's blast for VADA testing. You're basing your entire scheme off a later side interview when Ward was asked about Rodriguez's out of nowhere comments about PED testing and Ward basically said it was absurd and a set up question and that he has been subjected to PED testing many times before and its not a problem. And if Ward's former relationship with Conte amplifies suspicious for you then what does Rodriguez's current relationship with Conte do for you? Not to mention Conte's relationship as an adviser/consultant for VADA. Look Rocco I get it I really do, in this day in age no one is innocent but no one should be attacked or singled out without definitive proof.

[Rantcatrat]

it may be absurd to expect someone to test themselves beyond the limit of the rules as the currently stand... but Ward said he would do the testing and since saying that, hasn't. there's the problem...and its only amplified when you take into consideration his relationship with Victor Conte who is an admitted steroid supplier/nutritionist.

Ward never said he would do the testing. It wasn't even brought up in negotiations. Even in the press conference Ward never agreed to Rodriguez's blast for VADA testing. You're basing your entire scheme off a later side interview when Ward was asked about Rodriguez's out of nowhere comments about PED testing and Ward basically said it was absurd and a set up question and that he has been subjected to PED testing many times before and its not a problem. And if Ward's former relationship with Conte amplifies suspicious for you then what does Rodriguez's current relationship with Conte do for you? Not to mention Conte's relationship as an adviser/consultant for VADA. Look Rocco I get it I really do, in this day in age no one is innocent but no one should be attacked or singled out without definitive proof.

However, Ward refused to take a test. Now, that's what we'll know him by. "Ward, the guy who refused to take the test."

[ruthless rocco]

so rodriguez says "i'm gonna do this testing cause i have nothing to hide....but will andre do the testing too?"
andre replies "i'll do testing, i've been tested a lot in the past and i'd do it again...but not this time because i don't like how you asked in front of people."

rodriguez was smart by not pressing the issue during the negotiations.
1- ward's camp may have passed on him as an opponent if he was too demanding.
2- he may have lost the chance to fight for as large a purse--wards camp agrees to the testing but only if rodriguez takes a smaller cut to pay for ward's testing or some bullshit.
3- ward now looks suspect in the court of public opinion.
4- these questions will dog and distract ward as he prepares for the fight as every journalist asks him over and over.

as for conte...if he's gone legit he's legit and it won't affect rodriguez cause he's the one choosing to be tested. whereas ward looks like he's scared of what the results may be.