By Mark Vester

During last September's HBO broadcast for Shane Mosley vs. Ricardo Mayorga, the entire HBO crew ignored the national headlines that were swirling on the subject of the BALCO controversy and Mosley's involvement. Mosley was a client of the BALCO lab in 2003. He admitted during the Federal BALCO trial that he used and injected himself with BALCO products to prepare for the 2003 rematch with Oscar De La Hoya. Mosley has denied that he knowingly took illegal performance boosters. He said BALCO founder Victor Conte told him the products being provided were legal supplements. Conte disputed Mosley's account of the facts and sued him for defamation. The lawsuit is ongoing.

Ross Greenburg, head of HBO Sports, spoke with the New York Daily News on the matter and made no excuses on why the subject wasn’t covered during Mosley’s bout with Mayorga.

"We just missed the boat. It was one of those rare occasions where our production people just spaced out, maybe because it wasn't that much in the news," Greenburg said.

He told The News that his network is not worried about a possible strain with Mosley and/or Golden Boy Promotions [where Mosley is a partner]. They plan to tackle the subject head on during Saturday’s live broadcast of Mosley’s bout with Antonio Margarito..

"Look, I don't give a damn about that (business relationships). I don't care about that. I don't care about doing business with any of these guys (promoters) unless they understand we have a responsibility - journalistically - to the viewer," Greenburg said.

Greenburg claims that HBO had tried for almost a month to get Mosley to sit down for an interview on the BALCO matter, but attorney Judd Burstein advised the fighter to stay away due to the pending lawsuit with Conte.

"He (Burstein) decided at the 11th hour not to do it," Greenburg said. "They were waffling all along. Judd is going to provide us with a statement."

HBO analyst Larry Merchant called Burstein and wanted to know why Mosley was being kept away from speaking his mind on the BALCO subject matter. Burstein told the paper that he plans to intervene if Merchant tries to ask Mosley any questions on the BALCO controversy.

"If Larry gets into that, the person you will see jumping in front of him, on camera, will be me," Burstein said. "There's no way I'm going to let Shane answer any of these questions."

Send News Tips and Comments To Mark Vester @ boxingvester@gmail.com