Only a ring death will stop murdering drug cheats, says Billy Joe Saunders
The unbeaten world middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders says only a ring death will jolt boxing into a proper crackdown on fighters using performance-enhancing drugs – and he believes such a tragedy should be regarded as murder.
Saunders and Martin Murray – the Merseysider who challenges him for his WBO title at the O2 Arena in south-east London on 23 June – have joined the growing chorus of condemnation being poured on Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez, who has received a derisory six-month ban for the presence of clenbuterol in his system. His transgression led to the rearrangement of his 5 May rematch with the majority title-holder at 11st 6lb, Gennady Golovkin, which almost certainly will still go ahead in September, when the Mexican’s ban runs out.
“The only time something’s going to be done is when someone passes away in the ring and his opponent is proved to have taken Peds,” Saunders said. He added, facetiously, that if authorities cannot control the problem, maybe everybody should be allowed to use banned drugs. “Let everybody do it. They’ve all got kids and families to go home to. Give them half a chance and let them take it. But if somebody dies in the ring at the hands of a drug cheat, it is murder, 100%.
“It’s diabolical, absolutely atrocious for someone of his stature to get banned for [just] six months. There was a perfect [opportunity] for the boxing world to make an example of a drugs cheat. You couldn’t have had a higher-calibre fighter to make an example of – and they didn’t. I can’t see them doing much more.”
Murray later told iFL TV: “Any other fighters, they’d get a longer ban, but he’s such a high-profile fighter and he generates so much money. Boxing’s bent. If there was a lifetime ban for everybody, no matter what, maybe that would change it.
“I predicted beforehand he’d get a six-month ban so he can fight Golovkin in September. You can bang your drum about it all day but you’ll get nowhere. It’s just the way the sport is. It’s situations like this that make [other fighters] want to do it, knowing they’ll get off with a slap on the wrist.”
Saunders agrees. “Any young fighters coming up and seeing a fighter of Canelo’s stature, they might think: ‘Well, it will get me there and, when I’m there, I’ll take a six-month ban.’ It’s not a punishment.”
While Saunders believes drug cheats are rife in the US, he says more stringent testing in the UK has largely kept the problem in check. “I got tested [on Monday] in the gym, out of the blue by UKAD. I have a slot from 5pm to 6pm to be in the gym every day. If I miss that, it’s classed as a missed test; you do three of them, and you get a two-year ban. I think England is more on top of it than anywhere else. I think we respect the game more than others.
“It’s never going to be fair when drugs are involved. My last opponent was David Lemieux and I insisted on VADA testing [which operates in the United States and Canada].
As long as they sign up for VADA for the 12 weeks, then you can’t assume everybody’s on it, because you wouldn’t box anyone. Canelo [might] take Peds again for the fight against Golovkin – and get banned for another six months. I am sure he would sign up for that today.
“But it brings a cloud over boxing. It puts a big downer on the game. And I know one million per cent I’ve boxed someone who was on Peds. I don’t want to put a brush on anyone and accuse people of stuff, but there is a big problem in the game. If someone with Canelo’s profile is doing it, then it needs looking into.”
As for where these banned substances come from, he said: “Ring your local crack dealer, I suppose. They’ll go and get it if you want it. Look, I don’t know. You get these people now and bringing all these sports scientists in, so it’s not hard to get hold of stuff, I’d imagine.”