This week’s panelists were asked to talk about the rise of performance-enhancing drugs in boxing
Ryan Walsh (Former British featherweight champion)
I suspect 98% of the top athletes are doing them, with only a very small percentage of them unaware. The book “Game of Shadows” is very good on this subject. Cheating or losing seems like an idea. I also watched a documentary about the 1988 Seoul Olympics which was very interesting. I lost my European title to a dirty drug scammer, so in my opinion the ban should start at 10 years.
Denzel Bentley (British middleweight champion)
PED is more common than we think. A lot of top boxers get caught using them and then they all get dusted under the carpet after a while because they bring in all the money. Never before has a top-level fighter been placed in a PED and banned for life or longer than two years.
Maxi Hughes (Former British Lightweight Champion)
Maybe I’m naive, but I still don’t believe that PED is popular in sports. With that said, I’m not terribly surprised when a failed test pops up, especially when there’s a big payoff at play.
Bradley Skeete (Former British Welterweight Champion)
It seems far more common now that performance-enhancing drugs are being used at the highest levels of the sport. Sadly, more and more senior boxers are testing positive for banned substances.
