Regarding A “Retroactive Therepeutic Use Exemption”

Published

9 years ago

May 21, 2015

Analysis, discussion, commentary and opinions still fly about weeks after The Fight of the Century, in all its glory and lack thereof, unfolded in Las Vegas.

The financial results are in, and all agree, the event was a rousing success from that standpoint. About 4.4 million pay per view buys were activated, the gate at MGM Grand tallied over $71 million, the boxers will gross between $150 and $200 million each.

Bigger picture, things are not as uniformly rosy. The action was fair to middling, vastly disappointing to some uneducated to the Mayweather Method of winning, which means doing so in risk averse fashion, paying as much or more attention to defensive adeptness than offensive output.

Lawsuits are at 30 plus and counting, targeting Manny Pacquiao for entering a bout with a bum right shoulder, after suffering an injury less than a month before the clash, which had him pondering pulling out.

One element of the drama which continues to be discussed comes as a result of a story by the dean of fightwriters, Thomas Hauser, the Muhammad Ali biographer and prolific author. Hauser dropped a story on Boxing Scene on Tuesday which contained a tidbit which had eyebrows raising in many circles. The story was titled “The Big Lie” and in it, Hauser reported a previously unreported fact about the PED testing for the super-fight. Here is the portion of the Hauser story which stood out most for me:

In early March, USADA presented the Pacquiao camp with a contract that allowed the testing agency to grant a retroactive therapeutic use exemption to either fighter in the event that the fighter tested positive for a prohibited drug. That retroactive exemption could have been granted without notifying the Nevada State Athletic Commission or the opposing fighter’s camp.Team Pacquiao thought that was outrageous and an opportunity for Mayweather to game the system. Pacquiao refused to sign the contract.Thereafter, Mayweather and USADA agreed to mutual notification and the elimination of retroactive therapeutic use exemptions. A copy of the final contract contained a section entitled “Therapeutic Use Exemptions,” which states: “Mayweather and Pacquiao agree that both athletes shall be notified within 24 hours of either of the following occurrences: (1) the submission by either athlete of a TUE application; or (2) the approval by USADA of a TUE application submitted by either athlete. Additionally, any modifications to an existing TUE by either athlete shall be communicated to the other athlete within 24 hours. Notification shall include: (1) the date of the application; (2) the prohibited substance(s) or method(s) for which the TUE is sought; and (3) the manner of use for the prohibited substance(s) or method(s) for which the TUE is sought.”

That phrase, “retroactive therapeutic use exemption.”

Hauser wrote that he had in his possession a copy of the “final contract” which laid out particulars if in fact either boxer applied for an exemption, which would be the case, we can presume, if either man tested positive for a banned substance, but wished to proceed without penalty unimpeded, to be able to participate in the fight.

Boxing hasn’t had as much experience in this “therapeutic use exemption” realm as has mixed martial arts, but there have been occasions when fighters have asked for permission to be able to use a substance, one which might be seen as a “PED,” with the OK from a physician, because, they maintain, they have a legitimate medical or physical need to use said substance, which would over-ride the potential performance enhancing property of that substance.

By way of example…Lamont Peterson tested positive ahead of his May 2012 rematch with Amir Khan. He showed an elevated level of testosterone in his bodily fluid. The scrap was cancelled, and Peterson explained the issue, in a story which ran on Boxing Talk. He said he was feeling fatigued, went to get checked by a doctor, and the doctor said he “had low free testosterone.” The boxer then took “testosterone pellets,” but was flagged. He was informed that some commissions will allow a TUE, or therapeutic use exemption, but stated that he didn’t know that an allowance could possibly be made for him, and also that he didn’t think he was using anything “performance enhancing.”

Back to MayPac…

That phrasing, that seeming desire to insert what seems like a contractual loop-hole to override a positive sample, struck me as at best curious. I reached out to Mayweather publicist Kelly Swanson, and emailed a request for comment or clarification regarding the matter. I received no response.

I also reached out to the testing agency Hauser mentioned, USADA, on Tuesday evening, and they told me they would furnish a reply, and I will insert that when it arrives. (UPDATE ALERT: A reply from USADA arrived Thursday at 12:45 PM ET):

Here is the USADA response:

The information in Mr. Hauser’s article concerning the final contract for USADA to run the anti-doping program for the Mayweather/Pacquiao fight is inaccurate.

The final contract signed by both fighters was clear that any TUE that was granted would be sent to the opposing fighter within 24-hours and that the granting of TUEs would be determined by USADA in its sole discretion in accordance with the WADA International Standards for TUEs, which includes retroactive TUEs. Any approved TUE will also be sent to the Nevada State Athletic Commission. TUE processing is a normal part of all international anti-doping programs.

I wanted to compare and contrast methods of operation and standards, so I reached out to Dr. Margaret Goodman, who heads up VADA (The Voluntary Anti-Doping Association) to see where her organization stood on the TUE issue. She sent this explanation which is contained in the VADA policy statement:

6. An application for a TUE will not be considered for retroactive approval except in extremely rare cases where:a. emergency treatment or treatment of an acute medical condition was necessary, orb. due to exceptional circumstances, there was insufficient time or opportunity for an applicant to submit, or VADA to consider, an application prior to doping control.The Athlete MUST inform VADA as soon as possible by fax or email if one of these circumstances occur. A TUE will not be considered for retroactive appeal if there is a failure to timely inform VADA of the exceptional circumstances.

The issue of testing has attached itself to both these fighters for many years. Mayweather barked for many years at Pacquiao to “take the test,” and also had to publicly apologize and make a payout to Manny for insinuating he was on PEDs. Pacman’s trainer Freddie Roach has a suit lodged against him by former Pacman strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza, whom Roach accused of giving Manny “shady” drinks. Mayweather in the leadup to MayPac boasted that he’d gotten under Manny’s skin by hiring Ariza, and has credited Ariza with being most instrumental for Manny’s success, more so than Roach. So, there is ton of water under this particular bridge…

I don’t pretend to be anything resembling an expert on PEDs and testing and regimens and protocol. Victor Conte, who runs a supplement company and advises a bunch of athletes, is; he’s been on the dark side, as a peddler, and now, he maintains, he’s seen the light and wants a clean sport, and clean athletes doing their thing on even playing fields. He is a proponent for how VADA does testing and has been quite public about not caring for the USADA way. No surprise, he took aim at USADA after learning of this development in the Hauser story. “In my opinion, the request for a retroactive TUE (Therapeutic Use Exemption) clause by the Mayweather camp was suspicious and should never have been granted by USADA,” Conte told me. “Plain and simple. The fight took place under the jurisdiction of NSAC, not USADA. The fact that USADA did not inform the NSAC of the Pacquiao injury presents serious questions” about their ties to Mayweather, he continued. Conflicts of interest can pop up, he told me, if a testing agency is being paid by one of the athletes, or by one of their cohorts. “USADA’s primary role in boxing is to serve as an independent entity and protect the health and safety of the two fighters,” he continued, and it is clear he isn’t of a mind that their independence is unquestioned.

My take: This issue is a sticky one, a controversial one, and one that is mutating. Boxing, but of course, is a sport unlike any other. It shares, with MMA, the status of being a one on one endeavor, which makes testing and subsequent potential issues of punishment, which could include cancellation of an event which has been in the planning stages for many, many months. People find it hard to fathom the possibility that the May 2 Mayweather-Pacquiao bout could have been cancelled, for whatever reason, at the 11th hour. Certainly, the discussion following the disclosure that Manny Pacquiao came in with a bad shoulder attests to that; “what did you want him to do, risk being called a wimp if he pulled out?” many folks said. Never mind the immense expense that has already been outlaid and the procedural nightmares which would ensue if refunding had to be performed, for the tickets to attend, the hotels, the airlines, etc. We do understand the “show must go on mentality.” But if that is the prevailing mindset from all parties involved, and to that end, a positive test for a PED couldn’t possibly result in the cancellation of an event, then what sort of teeth, so to speak, does the testing process really possess? If language is going to exist which would conceivably nullify any positive test, and allow an offending substance to be rendered acceptable through an exemption, shouldn’t that construct be made public? Don’t all parties involved, the fighters, the organizers, the fans, deserve that, at minumum? We need more transparency, more uniformity, if the testing procedures and post-positive protocol can be agreed upon and applied uniformly.

Wording is important, and phrases like retroactive therapeutic use exemption don’t do well in passing the smell test, if you’re not a lawyer, whose reason for vocational being maybe rests on such wordsmithery and loopholery. That fight was a let-down, beyond monies being made by a select few; what say some greater good comes from it, and better PED testing policies, free from iffy such language, are the norm when the next “super fight” comes around.

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 289: East LA, Claressa Shields and More

Published

1 day ago

July 25, 2024

David A. Avila

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 289: East LA, Claressa Shields and More

East Los Angeles has long been a haven for some of the best fighters around if you can keep them out of trouble. For every Oscar De La Hoya or Seniesa Estrada there are thousands derailed by crime, drugs or drinking.

Boxing has always been a favorite sport of East L.A. Every family has an uncle or two who boxes.

On Friday, 360 Promotions’ Omar Trinidad (15-0-1) fights Viktor Slavinskyi (15-2-1) in the main event at Commerce Casino, in Commerce, CA. UFC Fight Pass will stream the fight card.

The City of Commerce used to be part of East L.A. until 1960 when it incorporated. It’s still considered to be part of East Los Angeles, but informally.

Plenty of fighters come out of East L.A. but few make it all the way like De La Hoya and Estrada. Will Trinidad be the one?

The first world champion from East L.A. or “East Los” as some call it, was Solly Garcia Smith back in the late 1800s. Others were Richie Lemos, Art Frias and Joey Olivo. There is also 1984 Olympic gold medalist Paul Gonzalez.

Once again 360 Promotions brings its popular brand of fights to the area. On this fight card includes two female bouts. One features Roxy Verduzco (1-0) the former amateur star fighting Colleen Davis (3-1-1) in a featherweight fight.

All that action takes place on Friday.

Elite Boxing

The next day, also in East L.A., Elite Boxing stages another boxing card at Salesian High School located at 960 S. Soto Street in the Boyle Heights area of East Los Angeles.

Elite Boxing has promoted several successful boxing cards at the Catholic high school grounds. The area is saturated by many of the best eateries in Los Angeles. Don’t take my word for it. Check it out yourself and grab some of that delicious food.

Boxing has long been a favorite sport of anyone who lives in East L.A. It’s a fight town equal to Philadelphia, Brooklyn or Detroit. There’s something different about the area. For more than 100 years some of the best fighters continue to come out of its boxing gyms. Some will be performing on these club shows.

For tickets or information go to www.eliteboxingusa.com

Claressa Shields in Detroit

Speaking of fight towns, pound-for-pound best Claressa Shields who won two Olympic Gold Medals in boxing, moves up another weight division to tackle the WBC heavyweight world champion Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse on Saturday, July 27, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan.

DAZN will stream the heavy-duty fight card.

Shields (14-0) cleaned out the super welterweight, middleweight and super middleweight divisions and now wants to add the big girls to her conquests. She will be facing Canada’s Lepage-Joanisse (7-1) who holds the WBC belt.

The last time Shields gloved up was more than a year ago when she fought Maricela Cornejo. Don’t blame Shields. She loves to fight. She loves to win. The last time Shields lost a fight was in the amateurs and that was three presidential administrations ago.

Shields doesn’t lose.

I wonder if Las Vegas even takes bets on her fights?

The only fight she may have been an underdog was against Savannah Marshall who was the last opponent to defeat her. And that was in 2012 in China. When they met as pros two years ago, Shields avenged her loss with a blistering attack.

Don’t get Shields mad.

Perhaps her toughest foe as a pro was in her pro debut when she clashed with Franchon Crews-Dezurn in Las Vegas. It was four rounds of fists and fury as the two pounded each other on the undercard of Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev in November 2016.

That was a ferocious debut for both female pugilists.

Assisting Shields on this fight card will be several intriguing male bouts. One guy you should pay special attention is Tito Mercado (15-0, 14 KOs) a super lightweight prospect from Pomona, California.

Many excellent fighters have come out of Pomona including Sugar Shane Mosley, Shane Mosley Jr., Alberto Davila and Richie Sandoval who just passed away this week.

Sandoval was best known for his 15-round war with Philadelphia’s Jeff Chandler for the bantamweight world title in 1984. Read the story by Arne K. Lang on this link: https://tss.ib.tv/boxing/featured-boxing-articles-boxing-news-videos-rankings-and-results/81467-former-world-bantamweight-champion-richie-sandoval-passes-away-at-age-63 .

Fights to Watch

Fri. UFC Fight Pass 7 p.m. Omar Trinidad (15-0-1) vs Viktor Slavinskyi (15-2-1).

Sat. ESPN+ 12:30 p.m. Joe Joyce (16-2) vs Derek Chisora (34-13).

Sat. DAZN 3 p.m. Claressa Shields (14-0) vs Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse (7-1), Michel Rivera (25-1) vs Hugo Roldan (22-2-1); Tito Mercado (15-0) vs Hector Sarmiento (21-2).

Omar Trinidad photo by Lina Baker

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Arne’s Almanac: Jake Paul and Women’s Boxing, a Curmudgeon’s Take

Published

3 days ago

July 24, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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Jake Paul can fight more than a little. The view from here is that he would make it interesting against any fringe contender in the cruiserweight division. However, Jake’s boxing acumen pales when paired against his skill as a flim-flam artist.

Jake brought a 9-1 record into last weekend’s bout with Mike Perry. As noted by boxing writer Paul Magno, Jake’s previous opponents consisted of “a You Tuber, a retired NBA star, five retired MMA stars, a part-time boxer/reality TV star, and two undersized and inactive fall-guy boxers.”

Mike Perry, a 32-year-old Floridian, was undefeated (6-0, 3 KOs) as a bare-knuckle boxer after forging a 14-8 record in UFC bouts. In pre-fight blurbs, Perry was billed as the baddest bare knuckle boxer of all time, but against Jake Paul he proved to have very unrefined skills as a conventional boxer which Team Paul undoubtedly knew all along. Perry lasted into the eighth round in a one-sided fight that could have been stopped a lot sooner.

Jake Paul is both a boxer and a promoter. As a promoter, he handles Amanda Serrano, one of the greatest female boxers in history. That makes him the person most responsible (because the buck stops with him) for the wretched mismatch in last Saturday’s co-feature, the bout between Serrano and Stevie Morgan.

Morgan, who took up boxing two years ago at age 33, brought a 14-1 record. Nicknamed the Sledgehammer, she had won 13 of her 14 wins by knockout, eight in the opening round. However, although she resides in Florida, all but one of those 13 knockouts happened in Colombia.

“We found that in Colombia there were just more opportunities for women’s boxing than in the United States,” she told a prominent boxing writer whose name we won’t mention.

The truth is that, for some folks, Colombia is the boxing equivalent of a feeder lot for livestock, a place where a boxer can go to fatten their record. The opportunities there were no greater than in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1995. It was there that Peter McNeeley prepped for his match with Mike Tyson with a 6-second knockout of professional punching bag Frankie Hines. (Six seconds? So it would be written although no one seems to have been there to witness it.)

Serrano vs Morgan was understood to be a stay-busy fight for Amanda whose rematch with Katie Taylor was postponed until November. Stevie Morgan, to her credit, answered the bell for the second round whereas others in her situation would have remained on the stool and invented an injury to rationalize it. Thirty-eight seconds later it was all over and Ms. Morgan was free to go home and use her sledgehammer to do some light dusting.

The Paul-Perry and Serrano-Morgan fights played out in a sold-out arena in Tampa before an estimated 17,000. Those without a DAZN subscription paid $64.95 for the livestream. Paul’s next promotion, where he will touch gloves with 58-year-old Mike Tyson (unless Iron Mike pulls a Joe Biden and pulls out; a capital idea) with Serrano-Taylor II the semi-main, will almost certainly rake in more money than any other boxing promotion this year.

Asked his opinion of so-called crossover boxing by a reporter for a college newspaper, the venerable boxing promoter Bob Arum said, “It’s not my bag but folks who don’t like it shouldn’t get too worked up over it because no one is stealing from anybody.” True enough, but for some of us, the phenomenon is distressing.

—

The next big women’s fight happens Saturday in Detroit where Claressa Shields seeks a world title in a third weight class against WBC heavyweight belt-holder Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse.

A two-time Olympic gold medalist, undefeated in 14 fights as a pro, Shields is very good, arguably the best female boxer of her generation which makes her, arguably, the best female boxer of all time. But turning away Lepage-Joanisse (7-1, 2 KOs) won’t elevate her stature in our eyes.

Purportedly 17-4 as an amateur, the Canadian won her title in her second crack at it. Back in August of 2017, she challenged Cancun’s Alejandra Jimenez in Cancun and was stopped in the third round. Entering the bout, Lepage-Joanisse was 3-0 as a pro and had never fought a match slated for more than four rounds.

Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse

True, on the women’s side, the heavyweight bracket is a very small pod. A sanctioning body has to make concessions to harness a sanctioning fee. Nonetheless, how absurd that a woman who had answered the bell for only 11 rounds would be deemed qualified to compete for a world title. (FYI: Alejandra Jimenez was purportedly born a man. She left the sport with a 12-0-1 record after her win over Franchon Crews Dazurn was changed to a no-contest when she tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol.)

Following her defeat to Jimenez, Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse, now 29 years old, was out of action for six-and-a-half years. When she returned, she was still a heavyweight, but a much slender heavyweight. She carried 231 pounds for Jimenez. In her most recent bout where she captured the vacant WBC title with a split decision over Argentina’s Abril Argentina Vidal, she clocked in at 173 ¼. (On the distaff side, there’s no uniformity among the various sanctioning bodies as to what constitutes a heavyweight.)

Claressa Shields doesn’t need Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse to reinforce her credentials as a future Hall of Famer. She made the cut a long time ago.

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Former World Bantamweight Champion Richie Sandoval Passes Away at Age 63

Published

4 days ago

July 22, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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Richie Sandoval, who won the WBA and lineal bantamweight title in one of the biggest upsets of the 1980s and then, not quite two years later, suffered near-fatal injuries in a title defense, has passed away at the age of 63.

News circulated fast in the Las Vegas boxing community on Monday, July 22, the grapevine actuated by a tweet from Hall of Fame matchmaker Bruce Trampler: “Boxing and the Top Rank family lost one of our own last night in the passing of former WBA bantamweight champion Richie Sandoval. It hurts personally and professionally to know that Richie is gone at age 63. RIP campeon.”

Details are vague but the cause of death was apparently a sudden heart attack that Sandoval experienced while visiting the Southern California home of his son of the same name.

Richie Sandoval put the LA County community of Pomona, California, on the boxing map before Shane Mosley came along and gave the town a more frequently-cited mention in the sports section of the papers. He came from a fighting family. An older brother, Albert “Superfly” Sandoval, became a big draw at LA’s fabled Olympic Auditorium while building a 35-2-1 record that included a failed bid to capture Lupe Pintor’s world bantamweight title.

Richie was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic boxing team that was stranded when U.S. President Jimmy Carter (and many other world leaders) boycotted the event as a protest against Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan.

As a pro, Sandoval’s signature win was a 15^th-round stoppage of Jeff Chandler. They fought on April 7, 1984 in Atlantic City. Chandler was making the tenth defense of his world bantamweight title.

Despite being a heavy underdog, Sandoval dominated the fight, winning almost every round until the referee stepped in and waived it off. Chandler, who was 33-1-2 heading in and had avenged his lone defeat, never fought again.

Sandoval made two successful defenses before risking his title against Gaby Canizales on the undercard of Hagler-Mugabi in the outdoor stadium at Caesars Palace. In round seven, Sandoval, who had a hellish time making the weight, was knocked down three times and suffered a seizure as he collapsed from the third knockdown. Stretchered out of the ring, he was rushed to the hospital where doctors reduced the swelling in his brain and beat the odds to save his life. This would be Richie’s lone defeat. He finished his pro career with a record of 29-1 (17 KOs).

Bob Arum cushioned some of the pain by giving Richie a $25,000 bonus and offering him a lifetime job at Top Rank which Richie accepted. And let the record show that Arum was good to his word.

A more elaborate portrait of Richie Sandoval was published in these pages in 2017. You can check it out HERE. May he rest in peace.

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