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For sure we know SRL, Aaron Pryor and Arguello used ******* - lots of it, and most likely many other fighters who enjoyed a moderate degree of success in the 70s and 80s... those were just the times - , but best I can establish it was mainly used recreationally, though there are definitely anecdotal accounts of it's use in the ring.
https://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/08/s...ted-pryor.html
More modern studies suggest the drug is actually of little benfit and is more likely to harm rather than help performance in strenuous activities due to overstimulation of the sympathetic nervous system - especially at the sort of levels associated with recreational use... not quite sure how this fits in with the traditional chewing of Coca leaves for the suppression of hunger and reduction of fatigue, but in many cases refined versions of a drug (like Heroin vs Opium) produce slightly different effects than their more natural counterparts, in some cases due to the removal of active compounds present in the original form.
I know a deal more about the history of drug use than of the history of boxing, but from my understanding it would be surprising if fighters in the second half of the 19th century did not experiment with then popular pick me up ******* - you could buy the stuff in bars over the counter in drug stores and it was , obviously - popularised by it's use in Coca-cola until the early 20th C, it was all over the damn place, and sold as some kinda miracle drug to stop fatigue and increase confidence an bravery... like I say, hard to imagine some fighters didn't use it in an age where they'ld be drinking hard liquor between rounds.
The law in the US only really started paying attention when ******* started to become popular amongst the newly freed black population, at which point it suddenly became a social menace with white populations being terrorised with the myth of the black 'coke fiend' come to fax their women and steal their shit, ha ha - a narrative which has been maintained to the present day..
Anyways I'm rambling - I do have a passing knowledge of drugs and drug use from prehistory to the modern day, but not really as it pertains to sport or particularly boxing... I know your intrest would lie more in the boxing angle, but if you wanted a more general, and extremely readable, account of drug use and it's development through the 19th and early 20th Century - an age of experiment in the understanding of drugs as well as a key period in the development of modern boxing - you could do a great deal worse than 'Emperors of Dreams' by Mike Jay.
Preview:
https://books.google.co.uk/books/abo...page&q&f=false
https://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/08/s...ted-pryor.html
More modern studies suggest the drug is actually of little benfit and is more likely to harm rather than help performance in strenuous activities due to overstimulation of the sympathetic nervous system - especially at the sort of levels associated with recreational use... not quite sure how this fits in with the traditional chewing of Coca leaves for the suppression of hunger and reduction of fatigue, but in many cases refined versions of a drug (like Heroin vs Opium) produce slightly different effects than their more natural counterparts, in some cases due to the removal of active compounds present in the original form.
I know a deal more about the history of drug use than of the history of boxing, but from my understanding it would be surprising if fighters in the second half of the 19th century did not experiment with then popular pick me up ******* - you could buy the stuff in bars over the counter in drug stores and it was , obviously - popularised by it's use in Coca-cola until the early 20th C, it was all over the damn place, and sold as some kinda miracle drug to stop fatigue and increase confidence an bravery... like I say, hard to imagine some fighters didn't use it in an age where they'ld be drinking hard liquor between rounds.
The law in the US only really started paying attention when ******* started to become popular amongst the newly freed black population, at which point it suddenly became a social menace with white populations being terrorised with the myth of the black 'coke fiend' come to fax their women and steal their shit, ha ha - a narrative which has been maintained to the present day.. Anyways I'm rambling - I do have a passing knowledge of drugs and drug use from prehistory to the modern day, but not really as it pertains to sport or particularly boxing... I know your intrest would lie more in the boxing angle, but if you wanted a more general, and extremely readable, account of drug use and it's development through the 19th and early 20th Century - an age of experiment in the understanding of drugs as well as a key period in the development of modern boxing - you could do a great deal worse than 'Emperors of Dreams' by Mike Jay.
Preview:
https://books.google.co.uk/books/abo...page&q&f=false
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