By Ryan Maquiñana
After BoxingScene.com reported that Andre Berto failed a random drug test, Rolando Arellano, the manager of Victor Ortiz, commented on the situation. Berto is scheduled to fight Ortiz on June 23 in Los Angeles.
“Andre Berto has allegedly tested positive for steroids,” Arellano told BoxingScene.com. “If this is proven to be true, what a shame, especially because his team pointed fingers at us with the innuendo that we did steroids. They even hired Victor Conte, who has been convicted of distribution of steroids and has shown how the system can be circumvented. I’m still waiting for all the facts to make a conclusive statement, but again, if it's true, a banned substance is a banned substance.”
According to our Gabriel Montoya, both Berto’s A and B samples had traces of nandrolone in drug testing issued by VADA, the Voluntary Anti-Drug Association.
Ryan Maquiñana writes a weekly boxing column for CSNBayArea.com. He is a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and on the Ratings Advisory Panel for Ring Magazine. E-mail him at rmaquinana@gmail.com, check out his blog at Norcalboxing.net, or follow him on Twitter: @RMaq28.
