Quote Originally Posted by IamInuit View Post
Quote Originally Posted by TitoFan View Post
Good post, but I'm gonna have to disagree with this particular point. Just because PED use is wide spread and as you said... ahead of the curve... does not prove that everybody's juicing. I'm not prepared at this point to provide a list of fighters that would not "test hot with relevant testing", but I still disagree with such a broad, all-encompassing statement. I will agree that the vast majority is doing it, however. In a way it's no different than the popular team sports. It used to be that people would ooh and ahh with every news story of a baseball player caught using PED's. Now it's more like "yawnnnn.... another one".

Obviously the answer is to spend more money on testing procedures, trying to close the gap between testing and doping.

Glad you raised that and I also hang onto that belief but at a certain level I think you almost have to in one way or another unless you are a Floyd or Ward, Calzaghe or Jofre. The alternative in many cases is that you will be beaten by someone who is. I think I clarified my position in later posts on the degree of there use. My point is chances are in many cases the guy that is busted was just stupid and his opponent wasn't so he passed the pee test.

PEDS are a broad, broad spectrum. Its much more then cycling systems with roids. The blanket statement I made was really in a devils advocate role. I do believe that the system as it stands today is the biggest enabler of the very thing it claims to be against.There is no adequate testing because they don't want it.They cant even organize a pension plan after 150 years.

I don't know that "they don't want it", as much as it may be that they just find it's too much trouble and too costly to pursue this adequate testing ideal. They probably say, "aww, the hell with it... everybody's doing it anyway", and throw their hands up in the air. You're right on point when you state that it's creating a situation where if you don't dope you'll eventually get beaten by somebody who does.

Eventually this may result in a situation that may very well threaten the sport. Imagine everybody on PEDs, where everyone's strength, endurance, power, speed is incremented by "X" amount. Unfortunately, the brain and its cushioning is the one thing that does not get upgraded by PED use. So boxers are continually subjecting themselves to harder punches without the opponent suffering the fatigue that a non-user might suffer. This will undoubtedly result in more spectacular knockouts, more brain damage... maybe even more deaths.

I'm a fan of both JMM and Pac. But I can't help but think about JMM's KO of Pac, and the KO's that Pac himself has administered. JMM is a terrific boxer and a surefire first ballot HOF'er. But the JMM that laid out Pac seemed different than the previous version of JMM. More muscular... more powerful. Now... I'm not making any accusations, but you cannot help but think about the possibility. Yes, Pac was moving in at the time of the punch... but c'mon. He went down as if shot. Regarding Pac, as you yourself have mentioned.... Pac moved up several divisions in weight while becoming faster and more powerful. Weights and training... maybe. But again one cannot help but think about the possibility.

At this point I'm not condemning anyone, but rather throwing a thought out there that should be viewed as a caution to those who police and protect the sport. If, as you say, everyone's juicing.... the trend will only increase, as fighters seek that coveted edge over their opponents. It becomes a contest of PEDs. Which ones are less detectable.... which ones give me more power than the others. The more I think about it, the more it seems that the only way to truly protect the sport and the fighters is to quit the hand-wringing over the widespread use and new masking techniques, and spend the money necessary to combat its use.