Trainer Says Shane Mosley Knowingly Juiced to Beat De La Hoya

Fight fans everywhere are feeling a huge Zab Judah putting his arm through glass-caused void in their Saturday night fight watching plans. OK, maybe not. I wasn’t planning to buy Zab’s pay-per-view bout against Shane Mosley and am relieved that I didn’t have any last minute pangs and pressures to do so.

That doesn’t mean that Sugar Shane has kept himself out of the news. Today’s Los Angeles Times reported that Mosley’s former trainer, Derryl Hudson, swore in federal court on Friday that “Shane was fully aware he was using performance-enhancing drugs as he prepared for his victorious 2003 rematch against Oscar De La Hoya.” The accompanying picture was taken just before that fight.

Hudson’s testimony comes as a result of his defamation suit against Shane for telling the media that “he didn’t know he was taking banned drugs from BALCO” and that “Hudson convinced him to take stomach injections because they were ‘icing on the cake’ to his typically rigorous conditioning program.”

Boxing has thus far avoided the performance enhancing drug scandals that have plagued most organized sports. Could Mosley’s BALCO link be the first of many exposés to follow? It’s doubtful simply because of the weight-limit nature of the sport. I personally don’t care and fail to see the arbitrary difference between cold medicines, steroids, chemically-altered foods, lasik surgery, protein shakes, or anything else not wholly natural that enters or affects your body in an effort to become better.

I know I’m in a distinct minority there. Dissent or agree? Comment below. This is a debate I’m always willing to engage in.

Photo Source: Newscom.com