Re: Oscar Valdez vs Robson Conceicao
GUIDANCE Oscar Valdez reveals what Canelo Alvarez told him after hearing he tested positive for phentermine
Oscar Valdez has revealed that Canelo Alvarez reassured him ‘everything’s gonna be alright’ after his positive drugs test was revealed last week.
The WBC super-featherweight champion tested positive for phentermine – a central-nervous stimulant.
His team have insisted that the Mexican did not knowingly ingest the substance ahead of his defence against Robson Conceicao on September 10 and claim to believe it came from “an herbal tea”.
Phentermine is on the VADA banned list, but VADA merely collect the samples and report test results. They do not enforce rulings – this is the job of the various boxing commissions.
Some US commissions adhere to the VADA banned list when ruling on such matters, but others follow the WADA code.
Under the WADA code, phentermine is only banned ‘in competition’ – and the ‘in competition’ period only begins on fight day itself.
As such, the local commission in this instance have cleared Valdez to fight regardless of the positive test.
Valdez achieved a career-best win back in February as he knocked out long-reigning champion Miguel Berchelt to become a two-weight king.
Now, some boxers across the sport are not only raising questions about him, but his camp, too.
Valdez is part of Reynoso’s ‘Canelo Team’ – widely considered one of the greatest stables in boxing today.
Reynoso is thought to be the frontrunner for Trainer of the Year in 2021 having not only guided Valdez to a stunning win, but also trained Ryan Garcia, Andy Ruiz Jr and boxing’s pound-for-pound king Canelo himself.
Back in 2018, Canelo received a six-month ban after testing positive for clenbuterol and had to postpone his rematch with Gennady Golovkin as a result.
He always insisted this test result was due to contaminated meat in Mexico.
A year later, WADA recognised the issue in Mexico and so raised the allowable threshold.
The WBC subsequently put out a statement insisting that this was “confirmation of the innocence” of Canelo.
Regardless, in some quarters the damage was already done in terms of the reputation of Reynoso’s gym.
Now, two years later, the situation with Valdez has reignited such talk and he has revealed that Canelo even gave him words of comfort on the day he was told he tested positive.
Valdez told ESPN: “We didn’t talk much, just that same day, everybody saw my face when they told me I came back positive.
“Everybody felt that you know.
“And I immediately, we immediately stopped training and everybody saw my disappointment. I was in shock.
“He just walks up to me and tells me, ‘Everything’s gonna be alright, the truth is gonna come out. You know, don’t worry. We all know the way you work, the way you train, we all know that you’re a clean fighter.'”
Regarding the perception of his camp, Valdez added: “It’s unfair for everybody. For everybody in the gym.
“It’s very unfair for someone like Andy Ruiz. Very unfair for somebody like Ryan Garcia.
“My name will never be 100 per cent clear because a lot of people out there will always use that against me.
“Maybe because they don’t like me or maybe because they truly do believe that I’m trying to cheat. Or whatever the reasons are.
“They’re always gonna say, ‘Yeah, he cheated.'”
https://talksport.com/sport/boxing/9...alvarez-drugs/
Do not let success go to your head and do not let failure get to your heart.
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