By Keith Idec
Rocky Martinez doesn’t know how he’d proceed if an opponent tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug during training camp.
Nevertheless, the WBO world super featherweight champion understands why Orlando Salido, the man Martinez has faced in his past two fights, decided to fight fellow Mexican Francisco Vargas anyway.
“In my position, if something like that happened to me, maybe I don’t fight a guy like that, that didn’t pass a drug test,” Martinez said through a translator during a conference call Thursday. “But you never know. This is a business. People pay money. Maybe they’re paying more money to somebody, so it all depends.”
Vargas (23-0-1, 17 KOs), who’ll defend his WBC world super featherweight title against Salido (43-13-3, 30 KOs, 1 NC) on Saturday night, tested positive for clenbuterol during a test taken by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association on April 21 in Mexico. The 31-year-old Vargas and his handlers claim contaminated meat trigged the positive test.
The 35-year-old Salido opted to remain in their HBO “Boxing After Dark” main event once the California State Athletic Commission committed to licensing Vargas for this 12-round title fight at StubHub Center in Carson, California.
“I don’t really have anything to say about that,” said Martinez, who settled for a split draw with Salido on September 12 in Las Vegas. “I don’t know what’s really going on with this guy. I don’t know who can get affected or what. … I don’t really have anything to say about that situation.”
Peter Rivera – whose company, Puerto Rico Best Boxing Promotions, represents Martinez – admitted his fighter’s willingness to stay in a such a fight would depend upon which PED an opponent was caught using.
“It’s a very difficult situation,” Rivera said. “But I believe, depending on the drug the guy really failed [for], that would depend on what I would do as a promoter. Maybe it’s not really a drug that would give an advantage to a guy in the fight. Maybe I wouldn’t care too much. Maybe it’s the kind of drug they use to lose weight, or something like that.
“But in my case, I would just check what kind of drug it is and why the guy is using it. Based on that, I would make a decision. But we don’t need situations like this. And it’s very weird because Vargas was the one who was accusing Salido about [PEDs], and he was the one who [failed a test].”
Puerto Rico’s Martinez (29-3-2, 17 KOs) and Ukraine’s Vasyl Lomachenko (5-1, 3 KOs) didn’t submit to more than standard New York State Athletic Commission testing for their June 11 fight for Martinez’s title in The Theater at Madison Square Garden. Before Martinez leaves his training camp in Puerto Rico for New York next week, he plans to watch the highly anticipated Vargas-Salido showdown Saturday night.
“It’s definitely gonna be a great fight, two warriors in the ring,” Martinez said. “These two guys will put everything in the ring that night. And it’s a very even fight. I don’t really have a winner. It’s a very even fight.”
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
