EDITOR’S LETTER
Canelo’s punishment is not enough
REMEMBER the date. April 18, 2018. The day the Nevada State Athletic Commission, the sporting governors of Las Vegas, blew the biggest opportunity of the modern era to show that boxing was capable of cleaning up its act. To show that the grime and muck and filth clogging the heart of the sport, that all the crime and corruption and greed, were, at long last, bad habits of the past.
But no. April 18, 2018 was the day the NSAC handed down a blink-and-you’ll miss-it six-month ban to the sport’s most marketable star, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, for twice testing positive for clenbuterol in February.
On your way, son. Go and get your injured knee sorted out. Come back as good as new in September but, please, be a bit more careful with the drugs you’re taking and we’ll all double our money.
But the fact there was any punishment at all suggests the NSAC recognised a wrong had been committed. A statement from Golden Boy, the promoters of Canelo, told us they had presented evidence to prove contaminated meat had sullied their beloved cash cow. Well, given the predictable backlash to such a predictable punishment for such a predictable excuse, now is the time to present that evidence to the public. Show us where the cattle was contaminated, why it was contaminated, exactly where it was eaten and why – in this age of supreme nutritional understanding – a boxer of Canelo’s standing was allowed to be so unthinkably careless. Not only to cover their backs and haul their fighter’s integrity and reputation out of the gutter, but also to prevent this cowpat of an excuse being dropped over and over again. The stench is already unbearable.
The NSAC should also explain why it is their policy to ban a fighter for just six months after an offence like this, and not fine them a single cent, yet they gave Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr a nine-month suspension and a $900,000 fine for testing positive for cannabis in 2013. Enlighten us. Make everything transparent and then we won’t have to presume the worst.
Instead, it’s all kept behind closed doors. Another filthy great splodge on the wall, yet more stinking suspicion brushed under the carpet. And not a single incentive for any top-level boxers already illegally enhancing their weaponry to stop, or a reason for a wannabe top-level boxer not to start. And that’s the tragedy. And more tragedies will follow.
It’s not just the NSAC who have screwed up, either. The WBA forgave Canelo because he’s Canelo, and without hearing a shred of evidence about anything. The WBC, who not long ago made great strides when they introduced their Clean Boxing Program, lost their footing and landed flat on their faces the moment they promised to support Canelo unconditionally.
Of course, we knew this would happen. The last month, after news of Canelo’s failed tests broke, has been like that split second you glance down and realise you’re about to step in a pile of dog dirt. You know it’s coming, you know you’re powerless to stop it, but man, it’s still infuriating.
However, as Paul Malignaggi pointed out this week, we can all rant and rave about the s**t we’re in. Instead, perhaps, we should take steps to get out.
So what else could the NSAC have done? Well, if their regulations – and I understand they were following their own regulations – demanded just a six-month ban, why can they not also impose a two-year period where the fighter is subject to random testing? Real random testing, that could happen at any time in those 24 months, and not just when Canelo is training for a fight. Rather than doing all they can to give Canelo the benefit of the doubt, they should do all they can to prove he is a clean athlete, and to prove they want a clean sport. I accept it’s an expensive process but the cost of cheats prospering so flagrantly is incalculably bigger. Come on. Do something.
April 18, 2018. The day that boxing opened up its doors and yelled at the top of its voice: ANYTHING GOES.
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