SPENCE-PETERSON

After overcoming homelessness, a failed drug test and a brutal stoppage defeat, Errol Spence holds no fears for Lamont Peterson, writes Chris Walker

We go in-depth with Lamont and focus on the IBF welterweight showdown

I OFFERED TO BE TESTED EVERY SINGLE DAY OF MY LIFE MOVING FORWARD BECAUSE I KNOW I’M A CLEAN ATHLETE”

IT was in 2011 that Lamont Peterson sampled the finest cuisine boxing has to offer. He began to enjoy the divine flavour, but before the Washington, D.C native could digest the course, the taste was abruptly smacked from his mouth, as a disturbing revelation gripped the sport. Peterson, fresh from a career-best victory over Amir Khan in December, had tested positive for synthetic testosterone three months later.

The hometown triumph against the Englishman, later to be coated with controversy and drama, initially gave fans that rare feel-good tingle. Peterson, due to lengthy spells of homelessness, knew mostly hardship as a youngster. Boxing, once again, was the knight in shining armour that rescued Lamont, and his younger brother, Anthony, from a desperate environment. If the Khan success was intended to be the movie’s final scene, the director had a sudden change of heart and turned our hero heel in a shocking twist. Peterson, under heavy scrutiny, faced an arduous battle to win back the trust of those who had bought into his remarkable tale.

The failed drug test, which was belatedly revealed only days before a highly anticipated rematch with the 2004 Olympic silver medallist, thwarted the sequel. “I wanted to clear my name immediately,” declares Peterson, taking time from a Sunday training session to recall the most trying days of his 13-year career. Pellets for the banned substance had been injected due to low levels of testosterone, up until, at the admission of Peterson’s lawyer, just before the Khan fight. Peterson, having become the WBA and IBF superlightweight champion after defeating the Bolton man, would then face contrasting punishments from the governing bodies. The IBF granted him a reprieve, believing his version of events with the support of an independent physician, while the WBA stripped him of their title. The actions of any of boxing’s alphabet boys should not serve as proof of Peterson’s guilt or innocence; Peterson’s word may be more convincing.

“Once I found out, I was saying to people, ‘Man, are they serious?’,” Peterson recalls. “I’m as anti-drugs as you can get and I co-operated with the people doing the tests all the way through. My testosterone levels were a problem, and I had to take care of it. They [his doctors] even said it wouldn’t make any difference to the way I trained or performed. Drugs in boxing are a big problem to some, and it’s a big problem for me and my brother. We want this sport as clean as possible and that’s what I said when those investigations were going on. I offered to be tested every single day of my life moving forward because I know I’m a clean athlete and that I’ve never taken anything that I’m not supposed to take, to help me prepare for a fight.”

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