By Mick Akers
Bob Arum sounding off on the stiff fine handed down from the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) on to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. last month after testing positive for marijuana after his bout with Sergio Martinez last fall had its points that make sense and ones that don’t.
First off, the $900,000 fine is absolutely too high, even for it being Chavez Jr.’s second offense, and the NSAC should of never dropped that kind of hammer on Chavez Jr.
Sure smoking marijuana is illegal in the state of Nevada, but as Arum stated, the NSAC aren’t the cops and shouldn’t be acting like them.
Weed will only make a person more lazy and unmotivated, so a fighter smoking a joint here and there should be at their choice, not anyone else’s.
When you compare the penalty handed down to Chavez Jr. to recent boxers that were busted for PED use, there is no comparison.
Antonio Tarver tested positive after his bout with Lateef Kayode for PED’s and was banned for one year and fined a measly $2,500. More recently, lightweight Mickey Bey Jr. was fined $1,000 and suspended for three months for testing positive for elevated testosterone levels after his third round KO victory over Robert Rodriguez last month.
Sure Bey Jr. doesn’t make the kind of money Chavez Jr. makes, but fining and suspending fighters who use substances that give an edge in the ring more than one using a drug that will hinder one’s performance is ridiculous.
Arum mentions race being a factor, but that is just hearsay, as most boxers are of an ethnic background and stating that the NSAC overly-fined for Chavez Jr. being a Mexican national is simply unbelievable.
The NSAC needs change the rules on drug use as with the increased amount of testing going on these days in the boxing world, more and more positives test are sure to be seen and how the NSAC responds to those will be closely monitored going forward.
