Exclusive Interview with Lamont Peterson

JM: Obviously, the May 19th rematch between you and Amir Khan has been cancelled due to a failed drug test last week. How devastated are you about this whole situation? Lamont Peterson: I am devastated. I am unhappy for the fans; they were really looking forward to this fight. The reason I was fighting Khan again was because the fans wanted to see us fight and now that it is not happening, I am a little upset about it. A lot of people have wasted their money to travel and plan vacations to Las Vegas just to see this fight and now it is not happening. So I just want to apologize to all the fans that will now not be able to see this fight. JM: You were the one who originally requested the random drug testing to be implemented for this fight. Why did you ask for this style of drug testing? Lamont Peterson: I asked for the random drug testing because I wanted to shine the light on this subject. For me, I believe there are a lot of people out there who are cheating. I just wanted to shine the light on this subject and be a champion that may provoke other champions and other top fighters out there to do the same. It wasn’t like I thought Amir Khan was cheating or anything, I just wanted to do that for the sport. JM: In your own words, can you please describe the procedure that took place last November that caused all of this? Lamont Peterson: Well, I was training for the first fight with Khan and I was having a hard time focusing and I noticed I was fatigued quicker. So I had a relationship with this doctor out in Las Vegas for about three or four years now. Anytime I was preparing for a fight or I felt that there was an issue with my health, I would check in with him. He would treat me if I was dehydrated or anything like that; he was always taking care of that. I would always call him if I had any questions and Barry (Peterson’s trainer) had called him because I was feeling very fatigued at times throughout the training camp for the first fight with Khan. He then had me go through a lot of blood work and a lot of lab work and stuff like that. One of the tests was to check my testosterone levels. It turned out that I had low free testosterone, so that was one area that he wanted to adjust. He told me about a lot of side effects that went along with having low testosterone. When he recommended the procedure, he never claimed that it would give me a lot of energy or that it would make me super strong or anything like that. He just warned me about what low testosterone would lead to down the line, after boxing. There was a lot of health risks involved. Once I learned about that, I was still debating on whether or not I should do the procedure in the middle of training camp. I was debating back and forth, but we eventually decided to go ahead with the procedure. I asked the doctor a lot of questions and did my research. There wasn’t enough testosterone being administered for it to enhance my performance, so it wasn’t considered a PED. It wasn’t going to make me stronger, faster, or anything like that. All it was supposed to do was bring my testosterone levels up to normal and that’s it. The doctor who did the procedure told me that it wasn’t a steroid, and there wasn’t enough being given to me to give me any type of edge over another fighter. I felt pretty confident, so I did it. After the procedure, we went back to training for the fight. My doctor told me that the procedure wouldn’t make me a fail a drug test and that it is not an illegal substance. So that’s the way I looked at it. JM: Now, it is a known fact that low testosterone at such a young age is usually a direct result of past steroid abuse. Are there any reasons why you believe you have such abnormally low testosterone at your age? Lamont Peterson: I have no idea. With that right there, I can tell you that I have recently conducted several tests that can detect for any type of steroid abuse symptoms all of your body. There is no sign or trace in my body in any organ or any place in my body that show any sign of the use of steroids. There isn’t one sign. The doctors that are conducting these tests aren’t your average doctors either; these are doctors that are well respected. JM: The(NSAC) and the(VADA) considers applications from athletes to allow the use of otherwise banned substances if there is a valid medical reason and an advance request. This is called a Therapeutic Use Exemption or TUE, and it is not always granted. Why didn't you notify NSAC or VADA about the procedure that you had in November and try to obtain a TUE for the pellets? Lamont Peterson: I recently was informed that the VADA form clearly states that the therapeutic use exemption only goes back as 14 days. When all of this was going on I didn’t even know the rule existed. As far as I was concerned, when I go to any doctor and get treated, I don’t need to inform anybody of it. If I go to a dentist and he tells me that I have a bad tooth, so he pulls it out. If they use some type of drug to numb my mouth, I am not thinking about that when I am fighting a month or two later. To me, it never came up because why would it? It’s not like I was going in there thinking I was using a performance enhancing drug. I was thinking I had gone under that procedure for health reasons, not boxing reasons. JM: What was your reaction when you were notified in April that you’re A sample had tested positive? Lamont Peterson: At first I thought it was a mistake because I knew damn well that I didn’t take any steroids. VADA was telling me that I had tested positive for a steroid and I knew that I hadn’t taken any steroids. VADA then told me to go around and look for a cream-like substance that I may have used that caused a the positive test result because they were saying that it had come from a cream-like substance at that point. They wanted me to grab anything cream-like that I had used, gather it together, and send it to them so that they could examine it. So I gathered all the shampoos, lotions, and soaps that I had used; I even gathered all of my daughter’s shampoos, lotions, and soaps. Any cream that I had used was sent to VADA because at that point they were saying that the positive test result had come from a cream-like substance. So why would I think that my procedure had anything to do with the positive result when they were saying it came from a cream-like substance at that point? Why would I think of testosterone pellets that are supposed to be legal when VADA was telling me that I had a cream-like substance that was a steroid in my system? Those two don’t even go together. I was puzzled. I didn’t even really think it was serious at the time but I still wanted to comply with them so I ran around and tried to find and gather anything it possibly could be. They had me thinking: “did I drink anything different?” or “have I worn anything different?” I really had no idea what it could possibly be at that moment in time. JM: When did it occur to you that it was the procedure that had caused you to test positive by VADA? Lamont Peterson: I had them test sample B and sample B had come back positive as well. When it came back positive this time, VADA claimed that it was testosterone. They had never once mentioned testosterone when they said it was a cream-like substance steroid. But when sample B came back positive, all of a sudden they said it was testosterone. Once they said that, I told them about the procedure. I wasn’t trying to hide anything. Nobody was going to know that I did the procedure but since I am not a cheat, I let them know. If I was going to lie, I would lie all the way to my grave. But that is just not me; I am not going to cheat for a fight and lie about it. At that point, as soon as VADA said it was testosterone, my team got together and we knew what it was. JM: When you were notified in March about you’re A sample testing positive, why did you not inform Team Khan or Golden Boy Promotions? Lamont Peterson: I didn’t know it was my job to do so. VADA was supposed to be in charge of the whole situation. VADA has a protocol and a way that they do things so I thought that they would be taking care of it. I thought that VADA would be contacting the Nevada Commission, Golden Boy, and Khan’s team and letting them know about it. VADA was supposed to inform each group of the test results, not Team Peterson. JM: Why do you suppose that you are not being listened to, despite having a lot of evidence that works in your favor? Lamont Peterson: I am not sure. I think if I had a promoter like Golden Boy behind me, a lot of these things wouldn’t have happened to me the way that they did. They would’ve fought for me instead of trying to shut me down. Everybody is saying that I cheated and this and that, but at the end of the day I am okay with it. I will take all the bashing that is coming my way and I am not really worried about it because I know that I didn’t cheat. It is only a matter of time before the truth comes out. JM: I have heard that you are going to apply for a boxing license in the state of Nevada. If true, when is that hearing supposed to be held? Lamont Peterson: Yeah, we have a hearing on June 13th with the Nevada State Athletic Commission. I’m 100% sure that I will get licensed and I’ll move on with my career. JM: If you do obtain a license on that date and you move on with your career, is Amir Khan somebody that you would still want to fight, after all that has happened? Lamont Peterson: Yeah, I am almost sure that we will fight again. When I fought him the first time, I was sure that I would fight him again and I still feel that way. Eventually, it’ll happen. Let him go on for now and I will move on and eventually the build-up to the fight will be bigger and it’ll happen. I believe that we have to fight again, one way or another, it has to happen. There has been too much said and done for us not to fight.