Angulo: I don’t believe Canelo

By Boxing News - 04/07/2018 - Comments

Image: Angulo: I don’t believe Canelo

By Jeff Aranow: Alfredo Angulo says he doesn’t buy the excuse that Saul Canelo Alvarez has been making about him eating contaminated meat for why he tested positive for the banned substance clenbuterol last February.

Canelo pulled out of his May 5th fight with IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin, which was a bit of a surprise to a lot of boxing fans, as they felt that if he’s innocent, why would he make that move?

Angulo, who fought Canelo four years ago and was stopped in the 10th round in March 2014, says only the poor fighters would eat from the taco stands off the streets, not wealthy fighters.

Angulo doesn’t believe that a fighter with the money that Canelo has would stoop to the level of buying cheap meat off of the streets like the poorer fighters. What makes Angulo have an even harder time believing Canelo’s excuse is the fact that his trainer Chepo Reynoso.

“There are some stupid things coming out of the mouth of Canelo to try and say he ate the bad meat,” Angulo said to Fighthub. “[Francisco] Vargas is different, because he is from the streets. I think from Mexico City, where they eat on the street from the taco stands outside. Canelo is more from Pueblo, a smaller type area. Someone from his stature, you don’t see him buying cheap tacos off the street when he can get his own chief and have the best meat out there, especially with Chepo Reynoso, his trainer, was a butcher in the past and he knows which meat you should eat and not eat,” Angulo said.

Canelo’s meat excuse has not caught on with the boxing public. The fans would like for Canelo to have just come out and admitted that he used the clenbuterol, because they feel that would show more integrity and class than him simply denying and looking guilty due to chiseled look to his physique for his last fight with Golovkin. Before Canelo fought Golovkin last September, he hadn’t looked cut up like a bodybuilder in his past fights. The timing of Canelo’s physique suddenly looking dramatically different and him testing positive for clenbuterol, it looks bad.

Clenbuterol is said to be used by some athletes to cut weight, and it’s also a substance that helps with their stamina. Some boxing fans have a hard time believing Canelo would use a weight cutting substance to gain an edge against Golovkin. There are a lot of different opinions by the fans. The only thing that we do know is Canelo tested positive twice for the substance last February during VADA’s tests. Why he tested positive is unknown.

”So it’s embarrassing the stuff he’s saying out of his mouth,” Angulo said. ”I don’t believe that s—t. Maybe a poor person that is eating off the street and doesn’t have the money to buy the higher quality meat, but someone like Canelo, he maybe ate a taco one time on the street, but I don’t believe that’s enough to make him test positive for clenbuterol,” Angulo said.

As you can see, Angulo wanted Canelo to come out and admit that he messed up and used clenbuterol. If Canelo did use the substance on purpose, it doesn’t look like he’s going to admit it. If he was going to admit that he used clenbuterol, he would likely would have done it by now. What Angulo says about mainly poor people eating meat off the street in Mexico makes sense. That’s what makes Canelo’s meat excuse a little difficult to believe. If Canelo went to a restaurant in Mexico and ate tainted meat there, then it would make sense, but he would need the receipts to prove that he purchased the meat.

Would the Nevada Commission go through the trouble of traveling all the way to Mexico to purchase meat at the same restaurant to have it tested? That sounds like a lot of footwork that would have to be done by the Commission to prove or disprove Canelo’s meat contamination excuse. If the Commission is going to peg Canelo as being guilty simply by their rule that a fighter is responsible for what goes into their body, then it doesn’t matter what excuses he gives them about eating contaminated meat. Simply testing positive for clenbuterol will be enough for him to be given a suspension of 1-year. The Nevada Commission can reduce Canelo’s suspension potentially.

Former world champion Paulie Malignaggi says Canelo got caught, period. He thinks Canelo mistimed his cycle and was popped by VADA’s testing last February. Malignaggi doesn’t think it matters whether Canelo admits to it or not. The fact of the matter is, Canelo tested positive for clenbuterol twice and that’s the end of story.

“Boxing is not a mainstream sport, and nobody in the sport wants to fix the sport, because they’re used to these starts do these amazing things,” Paulie Malignaggi said to Helen Yee Sports. “You got guys going through eight weight classes. You got guys fighting until they’re 150 years-old. Then you’ve got the recent one Canelo, knocking everybody out no matter what weight class he goes to. He was having problems making weight at light middle. Now he’s having trouble making weight at middle. How is he getting bigger and bigger? Is he still growing? He’s 27. How much are you going to grow?” Malignaggi said about Canelo.

Some boxing fans wonder why Canelo doesn’t let his fight night weight be revealed for his fights on HBO. Most fighters allow HBO to weigh them on the night of their fights, and reveal their rehydrated weight as poor of the stats. Canelo doesn’t do that, and it makes fans wonder why.

Malignaggi feels that the networks the promoters don’t want to push for mandatory drug testing year round, because it costs money and then it stops these fighters from doing amazing things like a real life cartoon character. Without giving any examples, Malignaggi says that some low level fighters are to rise to become world class fighters by using PEDs, and now the natural world class fighters are wondering if they have to PEDs too in order to stay ahead of the “bums” that have risen to their level with help from banned substances.

”You can’t test anyone near enough with VADA to catch these guys and keep them honest,” Malignaggi said. ”People are doping left and right. People that don’t want to dope are going to have to start doping. You’ve got complete bums doping and getting to world class level.”

The testing by VADA occurs in the 8 weeks before a fighter competes, and that’s if they agree to the testing. There is no testing in the eight weeks before the contest unless the fighter agrees to year round testing. That’s expensive to do. Canelo doesn’t have year round testing. It’s unclear whether he’ll agree to being tested 365 days a year after his test positive tests for clenbuterol. It would make Canelo look good in the eyes of the boxing world if he agreed to year 24/7, 365 days per year testing, but it’s up to him to volunteer to do it. Canelo can’t be forced to be tested year round.

”I don’t think admitting to it or not should make a difference,” Malignaggi said. ”You failed a test. You got caught. You got caught already. The admission is you got caught already. The test results are him admitting it. What else do you need? The test results are all that counts,” said Malignaggi.

In Malignaggi’s view, Canelo admitting that he used clenbuterol would be pointless at this stage. His two positive tests speak for themselves, given the Nevada Commission’s rules. The time for Canelo to have admitted it is long past. He’s already denied intentionally using the substance. If Canelo were to change his story and admit that he used clenbuterol on purpose, it would make a lot of boxing fans angry at him because he didn’t admit it right off the bat as soon as he tested positive.

”I think it’s been a little while,” Malignaggi said when asked how long he’s believed that Canelo has been using PEDs. “I think there are some things that wasn’t looking right,” Malignaggi said about Canelo’s physique.

Angulo is fighting tonight against Sergio Mora at super middleweight on the undercard of the Erislandy Lara vs. Jarett Hurd junior middleweight unification fight at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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