Yesterday’s big news in the sport of boxing was the Canelo Alvarez failed a pre-fight drug test for Clenbuterol. I was away and unable to comment on it until now, but here are my thoughts. Spoilers: It isn’t going to impact the fight happening.
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs) is the biggest star in boxing. The previous generations two big draws no longer hang over him as Floyd Mayweather Jr has retired and Manny Pacquiao’s shine is diminished significantly. The closest contender to Canelo’s throne would be British unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, but “AJ” doesn’t have the population in the UK to compete with the Mexican PPV star’s two country fanbase in Mexico and the United States. The argument is pretty cut and dry at this point.
Given his status as the most popular fighter in the world, Canelo accordingly brings in money by the truckload. His fights do massive live gates wherever they are placed. This lines the coffers of the states that he is fighting in, which in turn finances the athletic commissions. The sanctioning bodies get their biggest cuts from fighters like Canelo too when he fights for and defends their world titles. The promoters and the network get in on it as well, of course, mainly through pay per view sales from a fighter of his stature. What I am saying is that there will be a ton of money for a ton of people on the line come May 5th.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that no one would ever pull the plug on a fight of the financial magnitude of Gennady Golovkin’s and Canelo Alvarez’s rematch, but it would be a long shot that would take something truly reprehensible. Failing for Clenbuterol in the manner that Canelo did does not qualify. You may have been reading about “tainted meat” and rolling your eyes, but it is a real problem for some athletes abroad, Mexicans included. The drug is apparently very effective in increasing the growth rate of livestock, cattle in particular. Where it is not regulated, it is used. When someone eats beef from a cow who had been treated with Clenbuterol, they unknowingly take it.
The Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency, or VADA, is on the record with saying it believes that this is the cause for the Mexican star’s test failure. The agency went as far as to say that the levels of Clebuterol in his system were “within the range of what is expected from meat contamination.” The plan is to continue testing him going forward to make sure he is clean and that this was an aberration. The Nevada State Athletic Commission is, of course, “moving forward with their investigation” as well.
Of course, even if we buy this explanation, it has a few ethical issues still. Clenbuterol is a fat burning drug in humans that works wonders by all accounts, just with some nasty side effects. It is well known that consuming the drug from meat is a distinct possibility in Mexico and China. Major organizations like the NFL have gone as far as to warn their players about eating meat while abroad in those countries. What do we do about it though? Do we dismiss failures for the drug for Mexican and Chinese fighters so as long as the dosage in their system is minor? Or do we tell them they cannot eat meat where they live?
The second option seems cruel, but the first gives them a built in advantage when it comes to weight cutting. Look at recent Mexican bantamweight titleholder and rising star Luis Nery for an example. Nery failed a post-fight drug test for Clenbuterol in Japan following his career defining four round destruction of longtime divisional king Shinsuke Yamanaka. The WBC, a Mexican based sanctioning body, accepted Nery’s explanation of tainted meat and didn’t suspend or strip him. Instead, they ordered a rematch. This time Nery tested clean, but he missed weight badly.
A fighter having Clenbuterol in his system due to tainted meat and being able to make weight who then tests clean in his next fight and is suddenly unable to make weight is either the proof of power of Mexico’s tainted meat, or it is one hell of a coincidence. I’m no doctor or scientist, of course, but I can’t help but wonder what advantages Canelo has had in the early stages of his training that Gennady Golovkin has not had thanks to Mexican beef.
Still, it was caught early and now Canelo will have to be careful. At least he won’t have any advantage with the drug during the two fighter’s toughest days cutting weight. Hopefully it won’t have any impact on the fight itself when the two elite middleweights step into the ring come May 5th. What does seem clear to me is that it definitely won’t have any impact on the fight happening at all. There is too much money on the line and too convenient of an explanation for the sport of boxing to worry about small things like fairness and ethics.
