ANALYSIS : State Boxing Fails in Drug Prevention

Of the major professional boxing states--California, Nevada, New Jersey and New York--California has the weakest system for catching users of illegal drugs.

The state that annually has more pro boxing shows than any other is last in the category of tough testing systems to detect illegal drug use. The California boxing fan who sees a lively, exciting bout deserves assurance that it wasn’t in part created by illegal drugs.

In the other major boxing states, spectators have that assurance.

In New York and New Jersey, every boxer in every bout on every fight card is required to take a postfight urine test. In Nevada, one boxer from every card is chosen at random to be tested for drugs.

In California, both participants in every world and state championship bout are drug-tested. But that’s it.

For every undercard and every other main-event fighter in California with a drug problem, the message is unmistakable:

Not to worry. Do drugs. Come to California. They don’t test here.

Is there reason to suspect a problem?

You bet there is.

One commission-appointed ringside physician, Robert Karns, says between 20% and 30% of boxers involved in title fights in California are testing positive for banned, performance-enhancing drugs, including some prescription drugs. About half those positives, he said, are for cocaine.

“They run the gamut from banned substances like some cold and asthma medications to cocaine,” Karns said. “About 90% of the positives for illegal drugs are for cocaine.”

Two nationally prominent fighters, Michael Dokes and Tony Tucker, both of whom freely admit to past troubles with cocaine use, have lately been fighting frequently in California. Almost unbelievably, neither has been tested after fights.

During the last six months, in title fights in Santa Monica and at the Forum, two fighters have come up positive for cocaine use--Tony Tubbs and Edward Parker. These, of course, were athletes who knew they would be tested.

The simple procedure of testing one boxer at random on every card gets the right message out, according to Chuck Minker, executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission.

On a drug-testing toughness scale, you’d score New Jersey’s and New York’s programs as ruthless. Nevada would get a tough rating. California gets a patsy score.

“Sometimes it really is a random selection and sometimes we have reason to suspect a guy should be tested,” Minker said of Nevada’s policy. “But we’re happy with the program. The positives for illegal drugs that come back are less than 5%. We feel we’ve gotten the message out--if you come to Nevada to box, come clean.”

New Jersey and New York boxing officials also report positive test results for illegal drugs at fewer than 5% of those tested.

“We take two urine samples from every boxer after every fight in New Jersey,” said Larry Hazzard, executive director of the New Jersey Athletic Commission.

“The samples go to the New Jersey State Police laboratory. If we get a positive back, the boxer--if he wasn’t involved in some kind of title fight--gets a warning letter from me, informing him if he ever tests positive again he will be suspended in New Jersey and that the suspension won’t be lifted until he completes an approved drug rehab program.

“And when we suspend a boxer, we inform the other states of his test result, and we hope they honor our suspension.”

New York is tough and may get tougher.

“We have reason to suspect that some cornermen in New York are not clean, and since they have the lives of these kids in their hands, I want to test them, too,” said the commission’s executive director, Randy Gordon.

Gordon said that in 1989, of 240 bouts on 40 New York boxing cards, 11 boxers tested positive for illegal drugs. Gordon has the authority, in the case of a suspected drug user, to call in any boxer at any time for a drug test. He can then call him in two days later for another test.

In California, commission-appointed ringside physicians have the authority to order any boxer tested for illegal drugs, but not after a fight--unless it’s a title fight.

Karns, of Beverly Hills, is a former University of Illinois boxer who would like to see boxing in California become as drug-free as possible.

“I fill out a medical evaluation sheet after every bout, and there’s a ‘special circumstances’ category where if I suspect a possible drug problem, I can prohibit (a boxer) from fighting again until he shows us a negative DAU (drug abuse analysis),” he said.

“But we don’t have the authority for random drug testing, and I’m in favor of (doing) that. In fact, I’d be willing to underwrite the start-up of such a program for, say, $2,000.”

For years, many in pro boxing believed their sport to be relatively drug-free. It wasn’t so.

“For something like 17 years, we weren’t getting any positives back,” Karns said. “Then we switched labs in 1987. Our primary lab is now the Central Diagnostic Laboratory, and we’re getting a lot of positives back.”

Often, boxing managers and trainers bring a boxer to Karns to be tested voluntarily. “Every time a boxer approaches a manager or trainer, the first thing they want to do with the fighter is get him drug-tested before investing any time in him,” Karns said.

“In cases like that, the tests run 30% to 40% positive. But those are skewed numbers, since there’s a suspicion of drug use to start with.”

Skewed or not, the numbers show pro boxing in California has a drug problem that isn’t being addressed. Money isn’t much of a problem. The lab test the state already uses for title fights costs $11.

Ken Gray, executive officer of the State Athletic Commission, said his office is studying a plan to implement a random testing program.

“We’re having a commission attorney look into the legality of requiring a boxer to be tested after he fights,” he said. “(Random testing) is something I think we ought to be doing.”

Boxing Notes

Raul Perez of Tijuana, the World Boxing Council bantamweight champion, will defend his title against Geraldo Martinez of San Francisco on May 7 at the Forum. . . . The Club Mirage, a spa in Fountain Hills, Ariz., near Phoenix, is becoming a prominent training camp. Virgil Hill, the World Boxing Assn. champion, is training there for his April 29 light-heavyweight title bout against Guy Waters at Las Vegas’ Caesars Palace, and it’s also the training camp for Marlon Starling, who will fight Michael Nunn at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas on April 14. Last year, England’s Frank Bruno trained there for his ill-fated challenge against Mike Tyson.

If Jorge Paez, the International Boxing Federation featherweight champion, defeats Louie Espinoza tonight at the Las Vegas Hilton, he wants to take on IBF junior-lightweight champion John Molina next. Paez, who had trouble making the 126-pound weight limit before his disputed decision over Troy Dorsey in February, has been at 127 to 128 all week, sources said.

Two top Southland amateurs, lightweight Shane Mosley of Pomona and featherweight Oscar de la Hoya of East Los Angeles, are ranked No. 1 in their weight classes by the USA Amateur Boxing Federation. . . . Official figures showed paid attendance was 7,894 for the Julio Cesar Chavez-Meldrick Taylor fight on March 17 at the Las Vegas Hilton, and gross receipts were $2,407,103.