Boxing's reputation as a dirty sport took another hit late last week when it was announced via the LA Times, that Erik Morales, scheduled to fight Danny Garcia on Saturday night, failed a pre-fight drug test.
However, anyone with a subscription to Showtime knows that the bout went off as planned, with Garcia knocking Morales out in the fourth round.
While we can praise Garcia for the work he did to secure a victory in a high-profile fight, the issue is that it was allowed to happen in the first place.
According to Dan Rafael of ESPN.com, there were some technicalities that helped Morales avoid a severe penalty long enough to step foot in the ring.
The reason the fight has not been called off, according to one of the sources, is because Morales' "A" sample tested positive, but the results of the "B" sample test likely won't be available until after the fight.
As far as I know, the fight is going on, one of the sources told ESPN.com. There is nothing that can be done to stop it because the "B" sample test result has not yet been disclosed.
Rafael also quoted a source who said that the test could be "a false positive," but even if there is a chance that it isn't, why would you allow this fight to happen?
What would have happened if Morales had won the fight, then the "B" sample comes back positive? Boxing would have an even bigger public relations nightmare on its hands than it got just by letting Morales fight and lose.
Then again, maybe the sport just doesn't care. It's no secret that, unless you have Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather on a card, it is incredibly hard for boxing to drum up mainstream interest.
By letting Morales fight with a positive test in hand, there is a clear message being sent. That second test should have been administered immediately and results cleared before the fight, or else it had to be called off.
This is not like baseball or the NFL, where there is a long, drawn-out appeals process and games take place every day or week. Fighters have months to prepare for one fight. Commissions administer tests before a fight, so everyone knows who is clean and who isn't.
Plus, who is to say that Morales didn't try to flush out his system with some kind of masking agent?
There are so many ways that this hurts the sport of boxing that it isn't even funny. It's a wonder what the people making the decisions are really looking out for.
I guess they feel that the integrity of the sport is long gone, so they might as well do what they can to make as much money as possible.
But no, there was a protocol that was followed, and regardless how it makes the sport look, boxing got its fight to go off with Garcia winning, so it can avoid a bigger black eye than it would have gotten had Morales won and the new sample been positive.
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