Boxing News : The Vargas Defense?

What's New at MaxBoxing

US News Pages 2...3

News Briefs

Today's Boxing Press

Sign Up To MaxBoxing

Steve
Kim

Chief
Columnist

The
MAIN EVENT
Radio Show
Listen Now!

Send this page to friend

Give us your feedback

On Friday the formal complaint was sent out by the Nevada State Athletic Commission and received by the representatives of Fernando Vargas, for his positive test result for steroids following his September 14th loss to Oscar De La Hoya in Las Vegas.

Vargas and his people have 20 days to answer the complaint and then will be afforded a hearing before the full commission.

So what tact will Vargas and his people take in responding to these allegations? Will they proclaim their outright innocence? Or will they say that their fighter unwittingly took the banned substance? Or maybe they'll claim that the test results were erroneous?

"There is not strategic plan until all the facts are gathered," claimed Pat English on Thursday afternoon, the attorney for Main Events, which promotes Vargas. "We have been working with the athletic commission to
gather the basic facts. There's been a lot of work done, Marc Ratner's been very helpful, the laboratory director in Nevada has been very helpful. We've been working on it, Keith Kizer, the deputy attorney general has been working on it. Members of the commission have helped and we're just trying to gather the basic facts."

In Michael Katz's most recent column for MaxBoxing, he wrote that English was skeptical of Vargas' test results.

"I read that I was questioning certain things," English said in response to Katz's article. "I've not had a conversation with any member of the press or anyone outside the internal group.

"We're going to be completely cooperative with the Nevada Athletic Commission, top-to-bottom. I mean that in the truest sense."

It had been widely reported that the test results were preliminary, when in fact they were final. As for a second test result, it takes much more urine to administer a steroid test than it does for other illegal substances and the tests are taken from the same urine specimen. There may not have been enough urine to gather a second test result. But it's clear, the commission and the lab stand firmly behind the results of the test.

What hurts the case of Vargas is that on July 1st, 2002 Dr. Luther Mack, chairman of the NSAC sent out a memorandum to all the licensed promoters warning them that there fighters would be tested for the use of steroids in the state of Nevada -- something that Vargas' and his representatives admittedly received.

In paragraph four it reads:
"Because the health and welfare of the competitors is the paramount concern of the Commission, we are instituting the steroid testing in a manner that will educate contestants about the dangers of steroid use and abuse, instead of merely punishing the contestants. To that end, the Commission did not suspend or revoke the license of a contestant who recently tested positive for steroids. Instead the Commission imposed a lesser form of discipline (via the addition of certain conditions of contestants license, including a condition requiring steroids counseling)."

It continues in the next paragraph:
"It is important to note, however, that this is NOT a period of amnesty. Steroids have never been an approved drug or injection. Rather, there will be a period of leniency until December 31, 2002. This time frame will give all competitors who may currently be under the influence of steroids time to be completely free of steroids.

"Please assist the Commission by informing your fighters of the foregoing. Moreover, please remind them that they must notify the Commission of any and all drugs, stimulants, injections, supplements and medications they are taking before they compete in Nevada. If a fighter is uncertain whether a substance is approved in Nevada, please encourage him or her to contact the Commission office for guidance. We will attempt to keep any request for assistance confidential."

In other words, we're going to be testing, so if you're taking them, you'd better stop. And the reason that some leniency will be granted until the end of the year is that some anabolic steroids, like Stanozolol (which was found in Vargas' system) and other oil-based steroids that are taken through
injections can stay in a fighters system for months at a time. Also, the commission would like to use this period of time as an educational period about the perils of steroid use. They don't really intend to drop the hammer on anyone until next year. As of right now, no official sanctions are in place with the NSAC and whatever sanctions are handed down to Vargas, whether it be a fine and/or suspension, will be largely up to Vargas and how he approaches this case.

An apologetic and contrite Vargas will be dealt with much less harshly than one that is combative and feisty with the commission. That was the case when two mixed martial artists tested positive for steroids. The one who came clean was punished relatively lightly, while the other, whose tact was to argue the test result got the opposite treatment.

One thing that clearly won't work is if Vargas claims that he didn't know what was being put into his system or that an over-the-counter supplement contained trace elements of Stanozolol. This steroid, which was used
by Ben Johnson prior to the 1988 Olympic games, is taken either through an injection or multiple pills. Whoever gave him this substance, did so knowingly.

And the bottom line is that it was in Vargas' system and he could have benefited from them. He, himself has to be accountable and responsible for what goes into his body. In an apologetic letter to Ratner, Vargas pointed out that he had 'two professionals' that were charge of his diet and nutrition, but again, while that might be true, he was the one who hired
them, so he has to be accountable for them also. By having steroids in his system he potentially put Oscar De La Hoya at further risk in what is one the most dangerous sports in the world.

BENEFIT

So does the use of anabolic steroids help a fighter?

Dr. Flip Homansky of the NSAC and a fixture at all the major fights in Nevada certainly thinks so. In his 'Ringside Training Principles and the Business of Boxing' web-site he clearly stated that steroids are an advantage to fighters who use them.

"I constantly hear, 'Steroids don't work, and even if they did.... they wouldn't be used in boxing'," Homansky writes in his article that was most recently posted on Secondsout.com.

"We think of the weight lifter or the interior lineman in football as the typical user. They need the extra bulk and necessary speed. Some think that only a boxer moving up or a heavyweight would possibly try them. The assumption is that anabolic steroids would make the boxer muscle-bound and slow.

"Well, think again! Steroids do work."

It's ironic to note that this article which was penned about six months ago would then mention the use of Stanozolol and Ben Johnson. Homansky would continue:

"So.... could they be used to a boxer's advantage and should they be allowed? The answer is 'Yes' they could be used in our sport' and 'No' they must not be allowed."

He would then describe some of the well known physical effects that come with steroid abuse. But while Homansky is strong in his belief that boxers do gain an unfair advantage with the use of steroids, opinion is mixed with the trainers canvassed by MaxBoxing.com.

Kenny Adams, the head coach of the 1988 Olympic boxing team and the current trainer of jr. welterweight prospect Mohammad Abdullaev, feels as though steroids has a detrimental effect on those who use them.

"Because they bulk you up, that's what they do," explained Adams, who feels as though they hindered Vargas in his bout with De La Hoya, "and if you notice, Vargas got tired. Vargas got tired there against De La Hoya. He got bulked up and he couldn't handle that weight. And that's what the problem was, they slowed him down."

But Al Mitchell, who was the head coach of the 1996 U.S. boxing team that included Vargas, has mixed feelings on them.

"Well, it could make him stronger and a couple of other things, yes for awhile," said Mitchell. "But if you keep using them over and over, they abuse you."

But he adds, "But I can't see Vargas doing that. I just can't. Despite his 'bad boy' image, he's a good guy with plenty of common sense."

Phil Borgia, most famous for training featherweight Kevin Kelley, feels as though the benefits come between the ears -- not necessarily in the body.

"I believe so, yeah. I think it gives you a sense, I don't know physically if it does, but it gives you a real sense of physical strength," he said. "Where you feel like, 'Oh, s__t, man, I'm like a monster' And sometimes, you can walk through somebody."

But Borgia feels strongly that Vargas, in this instance, can not and should not plead ignorance.

"Somebody asked me," Phil, what do you think about this thing, about Vargas saying he didn't know that he was given steroids? I said to this person, 'Lemme explain something to you, if you're a professional athlete and somebody asks you to put something in your mouth and you don't ask them, 'What am I taking? Is it something that if I take a blood test or a piss test, is it gonna show up that I shouldn't have taken it?' Shame on you!!! Somebody puts a pill in our hand and you're not going to ask questions?"

USAGE?

Day in and day out, former heavyweight Justin Fortune puts the fighters at Freddie Roach's Wild Card Boxing Club through vigorous physical training. Fortune, whose career record was 15-8-2 including a knockout loss to Lennox Lewis, is a 'trainer in training' serving an apprenticeship under Roach. Fortune, a short and stocky 5'9, still looks to be in fighting shape. He feels strongly that steroid use is widespread in all sports.

"It's widely used in every sport for most people, say in the top 10 to 20 in their sport," said Fortune at the Wild Card Boxing Club." I think the use of steroids is very diverse in every sport."

But does he think they benefit fighters?

"Absolutely, if taken properly and done properly and the fighter works the steroids, instead of letting the steroid work the fighter, then it can give them 10 to 20 percent more strength, endurance. But it depends on
how they work it."

With this most recent news of Vargas' positive test result, speculation has been rampant about just how many fighters use steroids. Fortune, without getting into any specifics, says that some guys don't pass his 'eyeball test'.

"Some of them you can just see it," explains Fortune. " Their cuts are really deep in their body, they're hard as a rock, they're extremely lean and they're necks are a little thicker, they're traps are really big. Those are stand out, tell-tale points on steroids use."

Borgia thinks use is spreading.

"I think at the heavier weight classes, yes," asserts Borgia. "With the influx of the personal trainers, nutritionists and the guys who specialize in these things, yeah. I think there is definitely more use than ever before."

For Questions or Comments
E-Mail Steve Kim at k9kim@maxboxing.com

Steve Kim's Column Archives - Click Here