It’s a matter of record that I’ve expressed misgivings about the migration of major boxing matches to Saudi Arabia. But I recognize that the Kingdom will be a dominant force in boxing for the foreseeable future.
In recent years, Saudi Arabia, through its General Entertainment Authority (GEA), has hosted an increasing number of high-profile fights. On 18 May, Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will battle at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world. This summer, the GEA will extend its reach to fight cards in Los Angeles and London.
Turki Alalshikh, chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, is the driving force behind Saudi Arabia’s expanding influence in boxing. His personal commitment and respect for the sport are well known. I’d like to see Turki Alalshikh take the lead in combatting the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs in boxing.
Too often in boxing, the integrity of competition is undermined by the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs. Enforcement of the prohibition against their use is inadequate. With today’s sophisticated microdosing techniques, traces of illegal PEDs can vanish from a fighter’s system within 24 to 48 hours. Most fighters are rarely tested. And when a fighter does test positive, he often employs high-powered attorneys who undermine the imposition of effective sanctions against him.
Fighters who have tested positive for illegal performance enhancing drugs litigate. They use “medical confidentiality” as a sword and a shield. Often, it’s claimed that a fighter has been “vindicated” and “proven innocent” of wrongdoing despite rulings that state the opposite. Facts underlying cases are hidden from public view. There has even been talk of fighters evading the consequences of prior positive test results by seeking to fight in Saudi Arabia.
I’m not an Islamic scholar. But my understanding is that the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs is a form of cheating that violates the precepts of fair competition that are underscored in the Qur’an.
There are two main stumbling blocks to ridding boxing of illegal performance enhancing drugs: (1) a lack of motivation on the part of those in control, and (2) the cost of effective drug testing.
The General Entertainment Authority is uniquely situated to surmount these obstacles. Virtually every fighter in the world wants to fight under its banner because of the large purses involved. In order to do so, they will obey its rules. And the GEA has the funds to pay for a sophisticated comprehensive drug-testing program.
With that in mind, I’d like to make the following proposal:
(1) The General Entertainment Authority in conjunction with the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (Vada) should institute a program to test boxers for illegal performance enhancing drugs.
(2) To qualify to fight under the auspices of the General Entertainment Authority, a fighter would have to be enrolled in the GEA-Vada program for at least six months prior to the fight. Obviously, the six-month requirement wouldn’t become effective until after the program has been in place for six months. But fighters would have to enroll now to be considered for a date within the next six months.
(3) The program would cost between $500,000 and $1,000,000 annually. There would be a cost saving on the back end of the testing process because, if a fighter is subjected to testing throughout the year, fewer tests will be necessary as a fight approaches. Here, I should note that Vada testing is already used for some of the General Entertainment Authority’s fights. But the testing doesn’t begin until after a fight is signed. And PEDs are often most effective when used to build core strength months in advance of a fight. The GEA would pay for the testing, so there would be no charge to the fighters.
In order for the program to be effective and credible, it should be run by Vada.
Vada is the most reliable PED-testing entity in boxing. It conducts more thorough testing than any other entity and has the best reporting requirements.
There was an eight-year period when the United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) administered 1,501 tests for performance enhancing drugs to 128 professional boxers. But Usada reported only one adverse finding regarding a professional boxer to a governing state athletic commission during that time. And that report came after a website revealed that the fighter in question had tested positive for a banned substance.
It’s not plausible that Usada administered 1,501 tests to 128 professional boxers and that only one of these tests came back positive. By contrast, during the same time frame, Vada reported a positive test rate of almost 4%. Using the Vada benchmark, one would have expected that 60 of the 1,501 tests conducted by Usada would have yielded a positive result. After these numbers were made public in an investigative report, Usada stopped testing professional boxers.
Some promoters like to test with Drug Free Sport because DFS has protocols that often allow positive test results to be swept under the rug without notification to all interested parties. So forget about Drug Free Sport.
Now comes the hard part. If Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority puts a serious PED-testing program in place, it’s inevitable that positive test results will be reported. When that happens, the GEA has to be resolute. This means, no sweeping positive test results under the rug. No bowing to phony analytical studies by “experts” who have been bought and paid for by fighters who tested positive.
The GEA can protect the integrity of the PED-testing process because it has the financial resources to stand firm against intimidation.
If Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment authority inaugurates this program, it will change boxing for the better in a meaningful way. And Turki Alalshikh’s legacy will become that of a man who, at the highest level, made enormous strides in cleansing boxing of illegal performance enhancing drugs.
That would be a legacy worthy of praise. And I can think of no greater gift to boxing.
Thomas Hauser’s email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His most recent book – a memoir titled My Mother and Me – is now available in stores. In 2019, he was selected for boxing’s highest honor – induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
