By Tim Royner: Trainer Don Charles says Saul Canelo Alvarez’s failed drug test for clenbuterol is inexcusable, and he doesn’t believe that his excuse that he consumed contaminated Mexican beef is an acceptable excuse.
Charles says that fighters that test positive for performance enhancing [PEDs] drugs should be banned from boxing, because they put their opponent’s life at risk during fights. Charles says that Canelo has the money to import his beef into Mexico for him to eat. Canelo knows that the Mexican beef is contaminated with drugs, so that’s not an acceptable excuse, says Charles.
Charles doesn’t see fines and suspensions as being a deterrent to keep boxers from wanting to use PEDs for personal gain. He feels that the fighters have the money to easily pay their fines, and then get back into the ring and continue to fight. Charles says the only way to make fighters fear using PEDs is if the governing bodies ban them for life if they’re caught using he substances.
“I’m deeply disappointed, because he’s one of my favorite fighters,” trainer Don Charles said to IFL TV about Canelo. “Provided it’s 100 percent that drug [clenbuterol] was found in him, it’s unforgivable. I blame the governing bodies, because I don’t believe they impose a heavy enough fine. I don’t think it should even be a fine. I think it should be a ban, a life ban,” Charles said.
The problem with the governing bodies giving a fighter a lifetime ban is it would only hold for that country or state. So if one country like the U.S banned a fighter for life, then they could in theory go to Mexico, Canada or Europe and fight without the ban affecting them. In the U.S, one state Commission could ban a fighter for life, but it’s unclear whether the other state Commissions would follow the ban. If Texas were ignore a lifetime ban given by the Nevada Commission to a guilty drug cheat, then that fighter could continue his career without missing a beat. The television networks would likely still show the banned boxer’s fights. So in other words, a fighter can’t be banned for life from boxing, because there will always be another country or state that will be willing to let that fighter compete there.
“There’s been so many people, it’s become consistent, every other month you’re hearing that someone has been found guilty of using banned substances,” Charles said. ”I think a heavy punishment like a life ban for instance, people will think not just once, not just twice, they’ll think 10 times before they [use performance enhancing drugs]. If you and I were doing something and we were going to get a life ban and our career was going to be taken away, you’re going to think twice before doing it. I think there should be a heavy penalty. I don’t think the penalty is heavy enough. People are getting found out and fined, and they can afford the fine, and then they get a 12 month ban, and then the next minute they’re performing again. I don’t think that should be the case. Something more severe like a life ban,” Charles said.
If there was a way for a lifetime ban for drug use to stick for all countries and all states, then it would be a huge deterrent to keep fighters from using PEDs, but unfortunately that’s not the case. Fighters can circumvent any ban given to them by one country by shopping for a country that will allow them to continue their careers. The major thing that could keep a fighter in line is if the television networks for that country decided that they weren’t going to televise that fighter due to him testing positive for PEDs. If the boxers’ fights can’t be televised in their respective countries, then that would hurt their careers, because they would be forced to move to a new country and try and quickly build a large fan base to become a big star. It’s not easy for fighters to become a star in a different country. It takes years to become a star. If you’re 27 or 28 and been given a lifetime ban from your country or the country you prefer to fight in, then you’ve got to relocate elsewhere. In the case of Canelo, if he gets banned by the television networks in the U.S for every date in the union, then he could go back to Mexico and continue to fight and make money over there. The money might not be as good as it was in the past, but at least he could continue to fight.
“If that turns out to be the case, they should have known about the beef in Mexico is contaminated,” Charles said about Canelo’s excuse that he ate contaminated meat in Mexico. “Therefore, they should be more selective. They’ve made enough money from boxing to be able to import [meat]. If you really like beef, then import if you know the beef in Mexico is contaminated. Then buy your beef elsewhere, import it. They’ve got enough money to do that. No, I don’t buy that excuse I’m afraid. I think banning people for life, because you’re putting people’s life at risk, at danger by taking such banned substances,” Charles said.
Charles isn’t the only one that isn’t buying Canelo’s contaminated meat excuse. Gennady Golovkin doesn’t believe it, and neither do a lot of other boxing fans. They don’t understand how a knowledgeable fighter like Canelo wouldn’t know the risks involved in him eating Mexican beef in his own country. It’s so hard to believe that Canelo ignored the risks that he had to have been aware of, and went ahead and ate the Mexican beef anyway. If Canelo knew the risks and ate the beef anyway, then it makes it hard to give him a free pass for this. It’s fault. He’s in charge of what he puts in his body, and he made the mistake. But it still comes back down to the governing bodies not doing much of making I not worth it for fighters to use PEDs. If fighters can use a tainted beef excuse for why they’re testing positive for PEDs like clenbuterol, then they can get away with it and keep using it in the future.