Doping calendars detail 'Sugar' Shane Mosley's EPO use

Doping calendars seized in the BALCO raid show that champion boxer Shane Mosley scaled back his use of the notorious doping agent EPO in the two weeks before his Sept. 13 title fight with Oscar De La Hoya, as his blood grew unnaturally thick with oxygen-rich red blood cells. That corresponds with previous reports that seized medical records showed Mosley’s hematocrit – a measure of red blood cells, and therefore endurance – shooting up 8.2% in just two weeks. Hematocrit readings rarely fluctuate that much naturally, and usually linger in the low 40s for non-doping men. Anything over 50 will get an Olympic cyclist or marathon runner suspended from competition. Mosley jumped from 44 to 52.2 in two weeks as he prepared for the fight, according to a Sept. 28, 2007 report by Sports Illustrated. The Daily News reviewed Mosley’s BALCO doping calendars this week, as well as transcripts of his secret testimony before a grand jury on Dec. 11 of that year. While on the stand in the same San Francisco courthouse where Barry Bonds is due to stand trial next March on charges that he lied to federal agents investigating BALCO, Mosley admitted taking the EPO and steroids purchased from the BALCO lab for $1,850, including $500 in cash. After advising Mosley to use the drug to boost his endurance, BALCO founder Victor Conte moved the boxer into a “maintenance phase” of less frequent injections so that Mosley didn’t fail a drug test or have a heart attack – a fate that has befallen athletes who use EPO. Mosley was on a doping binge that summer, taking a potent mix of steroids and EPO to build his strength and stamina right up until his successful fight against Oscar De La Hoya that Sept. 13. Mosley has admitted publicly and in court documents that he took EPO and the designer steroids “the cream” and “the clear”, but says he did not know they were either illegal or banned. Conte, who is being sued for defamation by Mosley in New York state court, says otherwise. “Specifically, I explained to Mr. Mosley and Mr. Hudson (Mosley’s trainer at the time) that ‘The Clear’ was an undetectable anabolic steroid and that ‘The Cream’ contained testosterone and epitestosterone,” Conte wrote in a sworn statement filed in the defamation case. “I explained that ‘The Cream’ was primarily to be used as a masking agent. I also explained that EPO increases the production of red blood cells, and therefore Mr. Mosley should take additional dietary supplements that aid in the manufacture of red blood cells, such as iron, vitamin C, vitamin E, folic acid, and vitamin B12. ... There is no question that I informed Mr. Mosley that he was taking the three banned performance enhancing drugs.”