by David P. Greisman
Middleweight prospect Shane Mosley Jr. has been suspended for seven months by the Nevada Athletic Commission due to his coming up positive for a banned amphetamine in testing done for his June 27 win over Jason Kelly in a modified version of boxing known as BKB, or Big Knockout Boxing.
Mosley blamed the positive test on the use of Adderall, a prescription drug for people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, which the 24-year-old says he has. Yet as commissioner Pat Lundvall noted, Mosley did not write in his pre-fight questionnaire that he had taken the drug, and Mosley testified this was because he thought it would be out of his system. Mosley also did not seek a therapeutic-use exemption from the commission.
The commission voted unanimously on the punishment during its Aug. 13 meeting.
The suspension dates backward to the day of the bout, meaning he would be eligible to fight again as of late January 2016 so long as he provides the commission with a clean drug test.
He was also fined a quarter of his $25,000 purse — $6,250 — and must reimburse the state attorney general’s office for costs associated with the hearing as well as for the cost of drug testing lab expenses.
Mosley remains 4-1 with 4 KOs in regularly sanctioned boxing matches. The BKB win, Mosley’s first appearance in that sport, was overturned into a no contest.
And as Dan Rafael of ESPN.com noted, the positive drug test, temporary suspension and subsequent actual suspension meant that he didn’t appear in a preliminary bout last month underneath Sergey Kovalev vs. Nadjib Mohammedi, nor will he be able to fight later this month when his namesake father has a fight with Ricardo Mayorga.
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