Guys like Virgil Hill and Holyfield get into the boxing hall of fame, when guys Bonds and Clements have thus far been shunned and never failed a test. Does boxing not even really care about PED's?
Guys like Virgil Hill and Holyfield get into the boxing hall of fame, when guys Bonds and Clements have thus far been shunned and never failed a test. Does boxing not even really care about PED's?
Was Holyfield "officially" caught.
It does really destroy your confidence in boxers failing drug test, especially when you are a fan of theirs. So I tend to not believe it is true because it is more convenient that believing that most take PED.
I genuinely believe it should be a criminal offence because you intend to harm the opponent in front of you and taking PED means you are carrying a gun/knife into the fight.
Do not let success go to your head and do not let failure get to your heart.
No Holyfield was not officially caught but that's what I'm saying. Bonds & Clements never failed a test either but have remained out of baseball's hall thus far.
In Bonds' case the growth in body mass was HUGE, in comparison with earlier in his career. Hell.... his head alone probably doubled in size.
In addition, Bonds went from being a fast, nimble hitter for average.... to a behemoth home run hitter. It's all way too suspicious.
Also it was in an era when lots of baseball players were 'roiding.
Most telling was the change in Bonds' demeanor. He went from being somewhat friendly and approachable to being this surly dude, which everyone in baseball hated.
Personally, I'd hold him out of the HOF as long as possible.
Probably because boxing is an obscure non team sport in the grand scheme of money rolling national entertainment/ marketing platforms. The nfl, mlb, and nba are racking up huge bank on the marketing and merchandising alone. Boxing is not really exploring those markets. Mostly i think the lack of a central governing body/org who would have a marketing team and guidelines for sponsors, and image shaping would be integral for any guilt/ responsibility on behalf of the league.
The public reactions tell the tale: Bonds gets popped for roids and there are protests of hall of fame entry, people stop buying jerseys, people stop buying tickets, fans implore the team to bench him, the league to ban him, individual sponsors walk away (league gets a cut of that if the player appears in his uniform, or teams logos appear in the background, etc.) It becomes a public embarrassment for the sport, not to mention the teammates whose wins/ championships etc he tainted. The team doctors are investigated, etc. The collateral damage is huge.
Now lets say, holyfield gets popped. No team, no jerseys (maybe signed gloves, but the only people splitting that money are him and the merchant who set that up), His trainer maybe who can deny he knows anything. Without the constant required involvement of a doping agency employed by the central governing body of the sport, its all chalked up to individual errors in decision making. It's only after you've been caught and someones been injured that could maybe be prosecuted for a felonious assault or attempted murder etc. similar to a resto, james butler kind of situation. Otherwise, everyone who stood to make money off a win, made their money and probably spent it by the time the news gets out.
The fallout from the balco incident as far as how it landed on mosely vs. bonds shows the disparity
They want your @$$ beat because upsets make news. News brings about excitement, excitement brings about ratings. The objective is to bring you up to the tower and tear your @$$ down. And if you don't believe that, you're crazy.
Roy Jones, Jr. "What I've Learned," Esquire 2003
His head grew enormously. He looked like his bobblehead doll. I'm sure I read his cap size went up a couple of numbers. Lots of guys roided for a couple of years till they got a huge guaranteed contract and then stopped roiding the minute they signed it and their numbers immediately went to shit. Jason Giambi comes to mind.
Steroid use should be treated much more severely in boxing because in baseball you're hitting a ball, in boxing you're hitting somebody else's head. The thing is with boxing the people running it are interested in making money first and the sport aspect of it comes well down the list. If PEDs are meaning big ticket/PPV sellers are able to stay around for more fights then nobody gives a fuck about how they're doing it and nobody wants to catch them. If Vegas really wanted they could have brought in strong random testing protocols last century but they're only interested in making money so they don't.
Simple reason they are viewed differently is because peoples' lives are on the line in boxing....not so with baseball.
Also with Bonds I don't think it was JUST steroids, I think that's part of it, but human growth hormone is another part altogether and guys have been dabbling in that for a long time.
I think @J_Undisputed hit the nail on the head. Excellent post.
Guys in massively popular sports with constant commercial exposure actually face consequences by the brain trust, sponsors, officials and more so in their bank account. Boxers get a slap on the wrist, more often title shots and lets face it, boxing has always been the red headed step child in the bigger sports world. The McQuire and Sosa duel and chasing records of 'Americana' legends surpassed the game at times. It was literally all over the place daily. Also power hitters like Bonds and Clemens are on a more personal stage with fans. The entire at-bat for a DH and deep ball threat is a prolonged mind game, drawn out theater in the game. As a former big follower of the game, baseball nerds LOVE to keep and track stats that start soaring! And in fairness Holyfield never 'failed' a test either .
I remember that I did read an article a while back about a guy who testified that Bond did admit doping and did it in front of him. Apparently that he was doing a couple of stuff, including a special creme and some drops he had to put under his tongue at some very precise moment, can't remember who the guy was though.
As for the whole doping difference between baseball and boxing, it comes from a very simple fact: Baseball is ONE organisation where everybody are under the same set of rules, more or less, where boxing is SOOOO different from a place to another; every states/countries have their very own regulations, way to do things, doping politics, which makes it much more difficult to control; some commissions seem to care, while some other seem to care more or less.
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That's the way it is, not the way it ends
Simple really boxing is a sport , Baseball is a rip off of the children / women's game "Rounder's" practiced since Tudor times in England .
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