AL Bernstein - Team Mayweather's....

[fan johnny]

I don't believe that he, above all other boxers, needs a special set of rules to compete. I believe all championship bouts should embrace more conclusive types of testing. This kind of thing happening for such a large-scale fight is helping the sport progress.

Whether you agree or disagree with the obviously suspicious facts concerning Pacquiao's weight and his camp, Floyd's request only highlighted a fatal flaw in the sport that we love. Lets do something about it.

Why? Is a fighter's safety less important in his first bout than it is when he finally reaches a championship bout? Would it be logical to suspect usage of a substance that enhances or has the potential to enhance performance when a fighter is starting out or when he's has reached his goal? Violating rules in the spirit of competition doesn't change because there is a title at stake. So why would you limit testing to championship bouts? Your suggestion doesn't meet the criteria that bans substances.

Too many people have knee jerk reactions to this whole subject and don't give it enough thought or weigh the evidence before coming to conclusions. In general we make rules for people that follow the rules. People that break the rules don't care because they are not bound by them. Rush judgments to fix problems usually cause more problems than they solve.

Al Bernstein is spot on about primary subject. Floyd's team screwed up bigtime otherwise we'd be discussing whose going to win and why.

The reason it can't be done at all levels is simple............money.

Having the testing at the championship level is a good starting place, and it's the place that most boxers strive for, so they know once they get to that level they must be clean, therefore, it has an effect of creating incentive to train clean rather than train dirty.

I agree that money is always a prohibitive factor when making rules, which is why great care must be taken when making them. I don't agree that it can't be done. It is being done. The problem in this discussion is the smear campaign has people thinking that the current methods are not good enough although methods can always be improved.

I'm not being facetious, help me out here... I really don't understand that statement.

[killersheep]

Why? Is a fighter's safety less important in his first bout than it is when he finally reaches a championship bout? Would it be logical to suspect usage of a substance that enhances or has the potential to enhance performance when a fighter is starting out or when he's has reached his goal? Violating rules in the spirit of competition doesn't change because there is a title at stake. So why would you limit testing to championship bouts? Your suggestion doesn't meet the criteria that bans substances.

Too many people have knee jerk reactions to this whole subject and don't give it enough thought or weigh the evidence before coming to conclusions. In general we make rules for people that follow the rules. People that break the rules don't care because they are not bound by them. Rush judgments to fix problems usually cause more problems than they solve.

Al Bernstein is spot on about primary subject. Floyd's team screwed up bigtime otherwise we'd be discussing whose going to win and why.

The reason it can't be done at all levels is simple............money.

Having the testing at the championship level is a good starting place, and it's the place that most boxers strive for, so they know once they get to that level they must be clean, therefore, it has an effect of creating incentive to train clean rather than train dirty.

I agree that money is always a prohibitive factor when making rules, which is why great care must be taken when making them. I don't agree that it can't be done. It is being done. The problem in this discussion is the smear campaign has people thinking that the current methods are not good enough although methods can always be improved.

I'm not being facetious, help me out here... I really don't understand that statement.

Really? Sienna and Magenta?
Just messing with you man.

Yes I can see how my statement may be confusing. I'll try to clarify.

Most boxers at least that get tv exposure and are in the public eye, have a goal of getting a title eventually. If they KNOW going into this they will be tested to the olympic standard once they get to that level it creates incentive for them to train clean, because once they get to that level they will know there is a much better chance of getting caught. I'm not saying to stop at championship level, but to start there. Once that becomes common place then you can work your way down from there, interim titles, title eliminators etc. Once that gets done, test the higher ranked guys and keep working your way down from there.

Yes the health of ALL boxers is equally important, but the reality of logistics, creating a working system etc. has to start somewhere as a trial to make sure the model works, why not start from the top?

I think it would be good press for boxing as a whole to state that it's getting cleaned up. It's a lot better then for example Mosley who passed ALL the tests available he never tested positive remember and he only got caught when the whole Balco lists came out. This brings up the example that designer PEDs are unable to be tested to the same standard. Using urinalysis is not good enough. For example the EPO test that was developed in 2003 that has been posted numerous times on here is practically void in what it finds because users of EPO have learned if they simply take lesser amounts more often it doesn't show up on that screen.