by David P. Greisman
The heavyweight title fight between Deontay Wilder and Artur Szpilka was only made official last week, on Dec. 9, a mere 38 days before they were to meet in the main event of a Showtime broadcast at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
As of Dec. 16, with a month to go, drug testing hadn’t yet begun. Both men want it to happen, but the fact that it wasn’t yet official led Szpilka to bring up the topic toward the end of a media conference call.
“I want drug test. We can do that,” Szpilka said. “We show world we are clean boxers, we are clean fighters. I want to be 100 percent sure my opponent is clean. This is good promotion for boxing. Hey champ, what’s going on? Come on.”
Wilder, who called out heavyweight contender Luis Ortiz the other week for a past failed drug test, told Szpilka that he favors drug testing not only for when he fights, but also for the time between bouts as well.
“I’m waiting on the day where they drug test year round. That’s what I’m looking forward to,” Wilder said. “I’m all about cleaning up the sport. Too many guys is abusing the sport, trying to cheat. I don’t believe in cheating myself out of life. I’ve never cheated out of life. Nothing’s ever been given to me in life. Everything I have, everything I’ve owned, I’ve had to work for. I’m a million percent agreeing with you. I have no problem with that. Whenever it comes to drug tests, I’ll be the first in line.”
Boxing promoter Lou DiBella, who works on many of the shows involving fighters with adviser Al Haymon, chimed in to say that the issue would be worked out.
“After we get off this call, we’ll make appropriate arrangements,” DiBella said. “I think we were planning on drug testing anyway.”
Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide . Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com
