Drug cheats are putting sport in bad light

A leading anti-doping expert has warned that boxers are in serious danger unless steps are undertaken to clamp down on the use of illegal drugs within the sport.

The issue of doping in boxing has come to the fore as Anthony Joshua prepares for Saturday’s fight with Russia’s Alexander Povetkin, who twice tested positive for banned substances within the space of eight months in 2016.

Povetkin, who was caught using meldonium and ostarine, is one of five heavyweight boxers ranked in the current top 10 in the world who have all produced positive tests since 2012. The others are Erkan Teper, Luis Ortiz, Dillian Whyte and Tyson Fury.

Boxing has been criticised for a muddled policy on doping, with a wide variety of punishments handed out by the sport’s multitude of governing bodies for roughly equivalent offences.

Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, told The Daily Telegraph that any fighter found guilty of wilfully doping “should be banned from the sport forever”, but as it stands relatively few fighters are found to have deliberately doped and punishments are restricted to bans which typically range from a few months to two years.

Now Michele Verroken, head of advisory body Sporting Integrity, and the former head of UK Sport’s anti-doping unit, has warned that the lack of clarity around sanctions is putting boxers’ health in jeopardy and also risking a raft of legal suits from fighters injured by rivals later proven to have doped.

“Instead of different standards operating from state to state, country to country, there should be one standard,” she said.

“Doping in boxing is dangerous, but it’s partly because of the seriousness of additional aggression or strength that might come from using steroids.

“There is also the prospect that somebody has been able to retain benefits of doping substances. There is evidence showing the retention of muscle memory and strength. Now is the time for sanctioning to take into account the impact of residual benefits.” – The Daily Telegraph