By Mark Vester
Undefeated junior middleweight/middleweight contender Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is not denying that he used furosemide prior to his decision win over Troy Rowland on the Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto undercard on November 14. Chavez recently tested positive for the drug and is facing a suspension and fine from the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Furosemide is a diuretic that causes the rate of urination to increase.
Chavez, as most can figure out, used the drug because he was struggling to make weight but everyone on his team, including Chavez, was fully unaware that furosemide was a banned drug within the Nevada rules. He admits that he made a mistake but he will fight the charges to get a lighter form of punishment. He plans to fight on the basis that he didn't use a malicious substance that gave him an advantage in the fight and neither he or his team tried to hide their use of the drug. It was a simple mistake and he says those types of drugs are used often by many boxers who are having trouble making weight.
Chavez says that he was badly dehydrated a few days prior to the fight and was hospitalized where the doctors pumped him full of liquids, which in turn made him use a diuretic to shed those liquids off.
"I dehydrated a lot [while making weight] and I was even hospitalized [a few days before the fight]. They put me glucose and vitamins into me and I absorbed it all and because of that I was struggling to make weight. So I took the diuretic to help me descend faster," Chavez Jr. told The Record.
"I know what a diuretic is. I know a diuretic is used to urinate. I did not believe that it would cause a positive result [in the pre-fight drug test]. And taking them to make weight is a very normal practice among boxers. It is not a substance that gave me an advantage and I did not try to conceal nothing. I will go to Las Vegas to clarify what happened so they can determine what happens with me. I did not take anything to give me any advantages. I only used it to make weight and I had no idea the drug was prohibited."
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