By Rick Reeno
Tom Loeffler, the managing director of K2 Promotions, finds certain level of vindication with the recent post-fight headlines to accompany the Guillermo Jones vs. Denis Lebedev showdown, which took place on May 17th in Moscow, Russia.
Jones pulled off an upset of Lebedev with a two fisting beating to capture the WBA cruiserweight title. With badly swollen face, Lebdev was knocked out in the eleventh round.
On July 26th, the WBA revealed that RUSADA [Russian Anti Doping Agency] informed their organization that Jones has tested positive for Furosemide, which is commonly used as a weight cutting agent but also used to mask other forms of performance enhancing drugs.
Jones' positive result has caused a lot of controversy for the wrong reasons. Many are questioning the timeline, regarding a positive test being announced more than two months after the fight had concluded.
Adding fuel to the controversial fire, the ringside doctor told event promoter Vladimir Hryunov that he was prohibited from stopping the fight - despite the massive hematoma on the right side of Lebedev's face. The doctor has not revealed which individual [or individuals] gave him those instructions.
Following the match, there was a big dispute between Jones' promoter Don King, and Hryunov, over the post-fight drug tests. King was demanding to take possession of a sample in order to bring it back to the United States for testing purposes. He wanted VADA [Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency] to test the sample as a precautionary measure in the event his fighter would come up positive for a banned substance with RUSADA.
When K2 Promotiions, through Klitschko manager Bernd Boente, was negotiating the details for the October 5th mandatory showdown between Wladimir Klitschko and Alexander Povetkin - the biggest obstacle was having both sides agree on the drug testing terms. The match is taking place at Olympic Stadium in Moscow.
Klitschko and his team wanted the German Commission, and the National Anti-Doping Agency [NADA], which is also based in Germany, to oversee the drug testing protocol. Hryunov and Povetkin wanted Russian Boxing Federation and the now infamous RUSADA to handle the testing.
Eventually a deal was struck and the fight was finalized.
Based on the Jones-Lebdev controversy, Loeffler and the rest of Klitschko's team were more than justified with their cautious approach. Wladimir and the rest of his team were holding firm to their drug testing terms because they wanted to avoid the same type of controversy that followed the Jones-Lebedev encounter.
"That was the biggest concern that we all had with going to Moscow. Not a matter of fighting Povetkin because Wladimir agreed twice to fight him. It was a matter of making sure that we have an even playing field where everything is level. That is a big concern for any fight that we are going into, just to make sure there is nothing funny with the drug testing. The German commission has the highest standards in the world. The Olympic style testing or at least what they test for - is the reason why a lot of guys test positive over there and not in other places. Sam Soliman tested positive there. Marius Wach tested positive there. There are a number of examples of that, and that's why we wanted to make sure everything was consistent," Loeffler told BoxingScene.com.