How come Edwin Valero never tested positive for anything...

From the mid-1980s until 2004 Diego Maradona was addicted to cocaine. He allegedly began using the drug in Barcelona in 1983. By the time he was playing for Napoli he had a regular addiction, which began to interfere with his ability to play football. Over the years following his retirement his health seriously deteriorated. On January 4, 2000, while vacationing in Punta del Este, Uruguay, Maradona had to be rushed to the emergency room of a local clinic. In a press conference, doctors stated that it was detected heart muscle damage due to "an underlying health issue". It was later known that traces of cocaine were found in his blood and Maradona had to explain the circumstances to the police. After this he left Argentina and went to Cuba in order to follow a drug rehab plan. How can you not fathom the possibility of Valero spiraling out of control and using more and more towards the end of his life? Do you honestly believe the amount of drugs he was using in his final days was the same as 1-2 years ago? probably not, but how can someone spiral out of control the last 2 years of his life if he was controling the addiction, in your opinion, for the last 20 years. for 18 years it was all good, that's the part i find hard to fathom. & again if he was spiraling out of control then why didn't he look it or at least test positive in his last fight a few months ago? I think the major issue that we disagree on is that you think he was a casual recreational user & i think he was an addict for a long peroid of time, i guess we'll never really know, but for his life to have ended the way it did tells me that he had a serious problem.

probably because he didn't fight in the u.s. so the testing is not that stringent. kind of makes you wonder about his power/endurance though. if he was high on coke or PCP in most of his fights it would explain why he brutally KTFO his opponents in the first round and never tired Hell yeah..

Then I don't think you understand the definition of an addict. I've personally done drugs since I was 13. Am I an addict now? Nope. Have I ever been an addict? Nope. But I was for many years a recreational user. What is improbable is going through 8 - 10 weeks of INTENSE training camps and being a drug addict. Ask a boxer, who fights on an elite level and trains as hard as Valero (which as I mentioned people can vouch that he was a gym rat) if it's possible to be addicted to cocaine and work the way he did. It's not possible man. You can't be a coke-head and train like that and then fight on a proffesional level, period. You don't think it's possible to be a world class athlete and be addicted to cocaine? ask Diego Maradona, one of the best soccer players of all time. & again to have been so addicted that it caused phsycological problems that lead you to kill your wife and yourself, that addiction and abuse, not recreational use.

I wouldn't be surprised if certain countries in Central and South America, Asia, etc. - any of the less economically prosperous countries- didn't bother including much drug testing because, in plain, simple terms; their athletes couldn't afford to be doping. When you fight in the gutter in Mexico City, or some rough neighbourhood slum in Africa, I mean, what are the chances a poor kid turned to combat is able to afford PED's? Or even get them? So, in some cases praticality problem lead to more lax testing. I can't say that about all the places he fought- like France and Japan- but I know for sure some areas aren't going to test because it'd basically equate to a waste of money.. I see what your saying, it just doesn't seem right to me. I imagine if your a somewhat successful fighter from central or south america then you'd probably have the means to get ped or any other kind of drug if you wanted to.

Because the current sytem sucks. That's why we need USADA testing across the board. THERE, I SAID IT!!! I wouldn't go as far as to say that, but if there is such a difference on the standards of testing depending on the country your in as some people have stated then there should at least be a governing body taking care of the testing for title fights across the globe.

I wouldn't be surprised if certain countries in Central and South America, Asia, etc. - any of the less economically prosperous countries- didn't bother including much drug testing because, in plain, simple terms; their athletes couldn't afford to be doping. When you fight in the gutter in Mexico City, or some rough neighbourhood slum in Africa, I mean, what are the chances a poor kid turned to combat is able to afford PED's? Or even get them? So, in some cases praticality problem lead to more lax testing. I can't say that about all the places he fought- like France and Japan- but I know for sure some areas aren't going to test because it'd basically equate to a waste of money..

so you're telling me Chavez was pulling strings while Valero was fighting in Japan, Mexico, Panama, France, Argentina and California? Come guys, once again lets use some common sense here. He simply wasn't dirty during his fights. You guys are acting like because he had a drug and drinking problem he was on drugs 100% of his life. There have been MANY, MANY fighters who have done cocaine and party, etc. and could still be clean during training camp and during their fights. Again, the most likely scenario here is that Valero did drugs throughout his life recreationally and during training camp he was clean, thus being clean for his fights and never testing positive. Obviously the last year of his life spiraled out of control (domestic violence, more pressure, etc.) and his drug use escalated to the point where he was using every day. Again, this doesn't mean he was always like that, obviously. I understand what your saying, but for Valero to have been doing drugs since before the age of 10 years old, I consider that an addict, not a recreational user. Durg addiction isn't something you can turn on or off & clearly he was doing so much drugs that it ****ed up his brain which is why he ended up doing what he did. So based on the fact that he was addicted to drugs for most of his life, i find it very hard to believe that he could just stop for several months during training, not impossible just improbable. Now taking into account your opinion, how could he have been clean for his last fight in the US if he was already spiraling out of control.

As far as I know cocaine stays in your system for 6 months. If they piss tested him he would have come up positive for sure...but Texas is the only US state he fought in for years and I don't think they test for cocaine. No drug stays in your system for six months. The hardest test to pass is for marijuana, and even the heaviest users can pass a test in less than two months.

if he was supposedly a drug addict his whole life? I was watching his last fight and i couldn't help but wonder. It doesn't really make me feel great about the current testing to be honest. A lot of his fightes weren't held in America. The majority of his fights were international (with I believe 2 in america), so that's probably why he wasn't caught doing anything. Just a guess. If he has must of the majority of his fights in the U.S....I think he gets caught (IMO).

I heard somewhere that because he had real strong ties with his government through his affiliation with Hugo Chavez that they were able to possible pull a few strings for him. it's ****ed up that depending where you are in the world you can be given slack and still fight for a title. If things are that different depending on where you are there should be 1 governing body taking care of all the testing.

I heard somewhere that because he had real strong ties with his government through his affiliation with Hugo Chavez that they were able to possibly pull a few strings for him.

His blood was 90% cocaine...smh...morons.

He wasn't on PED's He was on PDD's (Performance Decreasing Drugs)

they test for roids not alcohol from my understanding Valero was not only an alcoholic.

Cocaine doesn't stay in your system long. Maybe 72 hours. I read somewhere that it's halflife was 72 hours so it would be double that to be completely out of your system but i could be wrong.

Cocaine doesn't stay in your system long. Maybe 72 hours.

Also why would another country not test for this or any other illegal substance, i understand not testing for booze, & coke doesn't stay in your system for much more then a week but weed stays in your system a long time,

he wasn't a "supposed" drug addict. He WAS a drug addict. They tested his blood when he hanged himself and his blood was 90% cocaine. he just didn't abuse drugs while training for a fight. That's what i find hard to believe, i remember reading an article about how he was a using drugs since his preteens, so how can a person just stop and go into hard training if he's abusing. If his blood was 90% cocaine then he had a serious problem and i doubt it was easy for him to stop at any time. Also how could cocaine not be tested for or not be considered a ped, if he was on it in the ring it would be ****ed up

As far as I know cocaine stays in your system for 6 months. If they piss tested him he would have come up positive for sure...but Texas is the only US state he fought in for years and I don't think they test for cocaine.

Wow 90%. That's a miracle he lived that long... LMAO 90% hahahahahha. He must have bled coke instead of blood then....90% hahahahah