By Mark Vester
In his recent "Frankly Speaking" column, promoter Frank Warren gave his thoughts on the recent scandal that began after Sports Illustrated ran a story which revealed that Shane Mosley was taking performance enchancing drugs before his rematch with Oscar De La Hoya in 2003.
Mosley told the NY Daily News that he inadvertently took two designer steroids — "the cream" and "the clear," before the De La Hoya bout. He says BALCO founder Victor Conte misled him about what he was actually taking.
Conte shot back in an email, telling the paper that he was upfront with Mosely as to what he was taking.
"I've never misled or deceived any athlete," Conte wrote. "I've always been a man of full disclosure."
Warren feels that boxing as a sport should come down harder on athletes that use steroids and adopt a zero tolerance policy.
"Pound for pound great Shane Mosley has been implicated in a doping scandal after admitting taking drugs that increased his number of red blood cells ahead of his fight with Oscar De La Hoya in 2003," Warren said. "The American was given a stimulant by BALCO - the company that supplied drugs to a number of leading athletes - but says he was misled. It's an excuse that's been heard too many times before. If boxing is serious about presenting itself as a clean sport, then it needs to come down hard on drug cheats."
"I would like to see the governing bodies hold purses until three days after the fight, and get drugs tests done quickly. If they came back positive, then the purse wouldn't be released until fines and compensation had been decided. Longer bans need to be handed out as well. All too often, as happened when Roy Jones was caught taking drugs, these things get swept under the carpet. We have to adopt a zero tolerance policy."
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