By Rick Reeno
According to well known boxing writer Wallace Matthews, it was confirmed by the New York State Athletic Commission that James Toney has tested postive for anabolic steroids following his history making win over WBA champion John Ruiz. Apparently, James Toney tested positive for nandrolone (also known commercially as Deca-Durabolin). Nandrolone is a muscle-building chemical which occurs naturally in the human body, in tiny quantities and helps increase muscle mass. Nandrolone has become popular with athletes because is doesn't carry some of the less desirable side-effects such as increased body hair or aggressive behavior.
It should be noted that several scientific studies have suggested that a combination of dietary supplements (none of which contain a banned substance) and exercise, can result in a positive nandrolone test. The theory behind the findings is that there is a link between heavy training, dehydration as a result from training, and their effects upon the components of high protein diets. James Toney would definitely fall into the category of a fighter engaging in a heavy amount of weight training and high protein diets. Toney also shed off plenty of pounds prior to his meeting with John Ruiz in a very short amount of time which could suggest that Toney was heavily dehydrating his body.
Should the positive finding hold up, Toney's win over John Ruiz would be changed to a no-contest and John Ruiz will regain his WBA champion status. An obvious black eye for the sport of boxing and also puts the heavyweight division back to the same point it was two weeks ago. While James Toney may not be the greatest heavyweight to step into the squared circle, he has charisma, the ability to speak, the ability to fight and maintains a loyal fan following. Toney has characteristics that 99.9% of the other heavyweights in the division lack. Following Toney's win over John Ruiz, Toney was already looking to battle with IBF champion Chris Byrd in order to unify two-thirds of the heavyweight title. A Toney-Byrd battle may still go forward, but obviously only one title will be on the line.
A positive finding holding up will also remove Toney's name from the boxing record books. Toney became only the third fighter in the history of the sport to start his career as a middleweight and capture the heavyweight championship of the world, should the win get changed to a no-contest, only Roy Jones and Bob Fitzsimmons will share the honors of accomplishing this feat. Toney's win also made him the shortest fighter to win the heavyweight crown in over 100 years, obviously the win being transformed into a no-contest will eliminate this feat from the boxing record books as well.
The question now is what will happen if Toney's positive test holds up? The WBA rules clearly state that once a fighter tests positive for steroids, he cannot fight for the WBA championship for up to 2 years. Going by the WBA rules, a Toney-Ruiz rematch or Toney gaining a WBA title shot will not happen for at least 2 years if ever. Toney can challenge Chris Byrd for the IBF heavyweight title but even if Toney defeats Byrd and WBC champion Vitali Klitschko, he wont be able to unify the division until sometime in 2007 (when he is eligible to challenge for the WBA crown). What I'm trying to say here is that a Toney win over Chris Byrd will not bring the division any closer to unifying a single champion. Who even knows what John Ruiz has planned as his next move. Don King could match Ruiz and Byrd against eachother to unify the their titles and match Toney against the winner of the meeting between Lamon Brewster and Andrew Golota. The fights would make sense given the circumstances and both matchups are intriguing because of the fighting styles involved..
It appears that the heavyweight division will be in the same disorganized state that has fallen on the division since the retirement of Lennox Lewis. It seems that no matter what anyone tries to do, they just cant seem to lift the heavyweight division off the ground.
