Title bout on despite steroids investigation
By Michael Virtanen
Associated Press
ALBANY, N.Y. - Samuel Peter and Jameel McCline are set to fight for the heavyweight title at Madison Square Garden tonight while boxing authorities investigate a report that McCline received large amounts of steroids and other banned substances in 2005 and 2006.
“So far everything’s OK,” New York State Athletic Commission chairman Ron Scott Stevens told the Associated Press on Friday.
McCline had his prefight physical Thursday, Stevens said. The boxers will be tested for performance-enhancing and illegal drugs through urinalysis about an hour before the fight and right afterward, with results coming about five days later, he said.
In 2005, the commission ruled that James Toney’s win over John Ruiz was no contest after his post-fight urine test came back positive for the steroid nandrolone, Stevens said. Toney was suspended for three months, fined $10,000 and stripped of the title he won by the WBA.
The commission, which regulates boxing in the state, will continue to enforce its policy banning steroids and cooperate with any law enforcement investigations, Stevens said. He added that he consulted with the New York Department of State, which includes his agency, after learning of the New York newspaper report.
The Daily News reported in Friday’s editions that McCline received more than $12,000 worth of steroids, human growth hormone and related drugs from March 2005 until December 2006.
“At this point, it’s an investigation. It hasn’t risen to a level beyond that,” Stevens said. He noted that McCline tested “clean” in New York before and after his Nov. 13, 2004, split decision loss to Chris Byrd.
McCline (38-7-3, 23 KOs) and Peter (28-1, 22 KOs) are to fight for the WBC interim heavyweight title.
Citing an anonymous source, the Daily News reported that Infinity Longevity of Boca Raton, Fla., a clinic associated with the Signature Pharmacy scandal, supplied drugs to McCline from March 2005 until last December. They included steroids like stanozolol and nandrolone, along with human growth hormone, testosterone and tamoxifen, an estrogen blocker taken by steroid users to keep them from developing feminine physical characteristics.
McCline’s manager, Scott Hirsch, told the Daily News he doubted his fighter had used performance-enhancing drugs.
Signature and several related sales companies face prosecution in Albany County on charges they illegally sold steroids, human growth hormone and other performance-enhancing drugs banned by many sports.
Publication date: 10-06-2007
