PEDS No Good For Me Edition – The specter of Performance Enhancing Drugs has reared its ugly head in the world of boxing this week, as the WBC World Heavyweight title bout scheduled for May 21st in Moscow, Russia between champion Deontay Wilder and challenger Alexander Povetkin was postponed due to a positive test by Povetkin.
The drug in question is Meldonium, which is the same “circulation enhancer” that has come up in tennis’ recent drug scandal surrounding Russian star Maria Sharpova. The drug was put on the list of banned substances at the beginning of this year, and Sharpova has admitted use going back to 2006. Povetkin and his big money Russian sponsor Andrey Ryabinsky have already come out and stated that the amount found in the test was a trace from usage back in September of last year, when the drug was still legal.
Check out this early report on the scandal from The Boxing Channel featuring analyst Ray Flores.
The WBC, who sanctioned the title fight and whose belt Wilder owns, called for the postponement because the test came up less than 10 days before the fight and a week is not enough time to investigate. Povetkin is certainly going to try and claim that the tests were not due to recent use and if that is the case, the fight should go on.
Wilder and his camp are apparently heading home. They had been in England beginning the travel process ion their way to Moscow when the news broke. Wilder’s promoter Lou DiBella appears ready to move on and look for another opponent for his fighter, but the Russians appear ready to drag this process out as they look to keep their title hopes alive.
WIth New Zealand prospect Joseph Parker facing #8 ranked Carlos Takam and Britain’s hard hitting David Haye fighting this weekend the TnS podcast does take some time re-capping this weekend’s heavyweight action. What is left of it anyway!
PEDS No Good For Me Edition
The TnS Podcast also gets into the potential behind a Floyd Mayweather Jr versus Conor McGregor showdown. The bout has gone from speculation to actually looking like most of the parties involved want to make it happen.
This started off when Floyd Mayweather stated in the press that he had heard the rumors, then stated “maybe I started the rumor”. With that, the social media networks went crazy, and likely Floyd had what he wanted. Massive interest. Carefully watching Mayweather in his retirement, he has tossed boxing names like Gennady Golovkin and Danny Garcia around in the media, but neither of those names caused a stir. McGregor did.
On May 14th on Showtime’s boxing broadcast, veteran boxing reporter Steve Farhood interviewed Floyd, who was attending the show that his company was promoting. Floyd left no doubt that a McGregor match was very much on his mind. Floyd stated that the only fight he was interested in at the moment was with Conor McGregor.
The potential fly in the ointment stands on the sidelines and has yet to be truly heard in all of this. Check it all out on the latest Talk ‘n’ Shoot Podcast, it’s #9 and it is called the “PEDS No Good For Me Edition”. Enjoy!
