Gomez says Canelo will be cleared for GGG fight on May 5

By Boxing News - 03/15/2018 - Comments

Image: Gomez says Canelo will be cleared for GGG fight on May 5

By Sean Jones: Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez says he can’t comment on the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s investigation of Saul Canelo Alvarez, but he’s confident that he’s going to be ultimately cleared and his rematch with IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin will go ahead for May 5th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Gomez maintains that Canelo’s positive test for clenbuterol was just an “accident” rather than a situation where he did anything wrong. Gomez says that in between fights, the 27-year-old Canelo likes to eat whatever he chooses. By Gomez saying that, he appears to be talking about Canelo eating Mexican beef, which is what his positive drug test for clenbuterol is being blamed on.

Clenbuterol is a performance enhancing drug. Golovkin doesn’t believe Canelo’s excuse for how he tested positive. He says he’s disappointed in Canelo for them going in that direction.

“I can’t really comment. There’s an active investigation with the Nevada State Athletic Commission,”Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez said to RingTV Digital. “We’re letting them do their job. We’re cooperating 100 percent with them, whatever they need for us. All I can say is when the investigation is concluded, Canelo is going to be freed, cleared and the fight is going to go on. We’re going to have a fight 100 percent,” Gomez said about Canelo.

If Gomez can’t comment on the investigation, then he probably shouldn’t be saying that Canelo will be cleared. That’s not his call. That’s the Commission’s jab, not his. What’s strange is Gomez saying that the Nevada Commission hasn’t completed their investigation, and yet he’s jumping the gun by saying that Canelo will be cleared. Gomez isn’t the one conducting the investigation. It’s the Commission. They’re the ones that will say whether Canelo will be cleared or not. By Gomez saying that Canelo will be cleared, it makes it sound like he’s the boss of the investigation rather than the Commission. Gomez can’t know what the Commission will decide, because he’s not in on the investigation.

”We’re ready for this fight. He [Canelo] knows there are some things that he needs to make adjustments that he’s ready to make from the first fight,” Gomez said in talking about Canelo.” Just listening to him and knowing what the game plan is going to be, I’m excited for this fight. I’m going to sit back and really watch it, because it’s going to be better than the first fist,” Gomez said.

Gomez says he knows what Canelo’s game plan is for the GGG rematch, and he’s “excited” about it. Bernard Hopkins said he watched Canelo train before his first fight with Golovkin last September, and he thought he had the winning formula. What it turned out to be is Canelo fighting on the ropes, and constantly moving to his left. The fight wasn’t exciting during stretches in which Canelo was moving and fighting with his back against the ropes. With Gomez saying the Canelo-Golovkin 2 fight being “better than the first,” then hopefully we’re going to see action this time around from Canelo.

It would be bad for the boxing fans if Canelo chooses to move for 12 rounds, rest against the ropes or use constant holding to stall the fight. We didn’t see Canelo using holding against Golovkin. That old tactic hasn’t been used by Canelo yet, so hopefully he doesn’t choose to try it just because it’s a tool that hasn’t been used. When a fighter feels they have to hold and maul to try and win a fight, then that’s a fighter that lacks confidence in their boxing ability and overall talent to win without spoiling.

”He was obviously embarrassed,” Gomez said about Canelo testing positive for clenbuterol. ”It’s embarrassing when something like that happens. There is no off season in boxing. That’s when they eat their cookies and drink their drinks. And in Canelo’s case, he eats whatever he wants. Look, it’s an embarrassing situation, but believe it or not, he’s calm, because he knows he did nothing wrong. It was just an accident. Mentally, he’s fine, he’s strong. He wants the investigation to be over with and put it behind him, and then he’s going to be ready to talk to everybody,” Gomez said.

Gomez talking about Canelo eating whatever he wants is his way of saying that Canelo tested positive by eating tainted beef in Mexico. That’s the excuse that Canelo is using for why he tested positive for clenbuterol, and it’s one that is impossible to disprove. The Commission can’t prove that Canelo didn’t eat contaminated meat in Mexico. They only thing the Commission can decision is whether that’s a good enough excuse for Canelo to be allowed to be cleared of the positive test.

The Commission will have to know that if they clear Canelo with him using that excuse, they’re going to be opening the floodgates for every fighter that tests positive for PEDs to blame it on eating meat or a dietary substance that contained the drug. It’ll be harder to believe that fighter if he doesn’t come from Mexico, because that’s where the problem of contaminated meat exists at this current time.

You can argue that if Canelo is cleared of his positive clenbuteral test by the Commission based on his excuse of having eaten contaminated meat, then they’ll need to consider stop testing for that drug, because that excuse will surely be used repeatedly by anyone testing positive in the future. If the cheaters that use clenbuterol know they can be cleared by blaming it on eating tainted beef, that’s it. Testing will be pointless for that drug if the meat excuse can be used to clear the fighter.

”Nobody is worried. Everything is going to be fine,” Gomez said.

Again, Gomez is making a prediction based on an investigation that he’s not overseeing. Instead of saying that everything is going to be fine, Gomez should be saying ‘he hopes’ everything will be fine. If Canelo is innocent, as Gomez suggests, then the Commission will make conclusion. It’s not Gomez’s call though.

YouTube video