By Victor Salazar

New York - The World Boxing Council made headlines when it issued a press release on taking a strong stance for a cleaner sport. The sanctioning body has embarked on a joint venture with the Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency (VADA) entitled the "WBC Clean Boxing Program”.

The three primary objectives of the venture, according to the press release, are an awareness program to educate boxers on the dangers of illegal substances through tutorials, webinars, out of competition random testing, and voluntary enrollment by fighters.

The WBC President, Jose Sulaiman, thinks that this move will make boxing safer for fighters and other sanctioning bodies should follow their lead.

“We have instituted the mandatory drug testing for all title fights since 1975,” Sulaiman told BoxingScene.com. “We want to make boxing safer. We are instituting VADA, which includes random testing to any fighter rated in the top 15 of a division. It includes voluntary testing for the fight and hopefully the other organizations do something similar.”

Sulaiman knows testing for such substances can be rather expensive but says the WBC is committed to helping out with the cost.

“For example for the fight between Lucas Matthysse and Viktor Postol, both fighters have enrolled in the random testing and we are helping finance the protocol. We have also encouraged VADA enrollment for year-round testing. We have a webinar that will help all kids and fighters have information on what substances are banned and not banned so they know what to put and not put in their bodies.”