STEROID
03-07-2012, 10:21 PM
Comeback in boxing: Steroid provider Conte back in the mix
03.07.2012 · Text/Pictures: By Arne Leyenberg, dpa / dpa
Los Angeles/Berlin (dpa) - Either he has a real sense of humour or Victor Conte has actually learned his lesson. Those who want to work with Conte must prove even more than others that they are clean. Of all people, Conte - the main figure in one of the biggest doping scandals in sports - values honest athletes.
The former founder of the California steroid-producing sports nutrition centre Balco - which had infamous clients such as world class sprinters Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery and baseball star Barry Bonds - is back in sports.
And it seems only fitting that Victor Conte is making his comeback to boxing, a sport whose reputation could not even be ruined by someone like Conte.
"This is my comeback," Conte said in the U.S. boxing magazine The Ring. Conte is working as a fitness trainer and nutritionist for world champions Nonito Donaire of the Philippines and American Andre Berto as well as former champion Zab Judah of the United States.
The American Olympic and world champion Andre Ward, who in December won the Super Six super middleweight tournament in December, also has long relied on Conte's methods.
Boxing has always been a stomping ground for bizarre and shady figures. And now they have accepted another of the like.
"Other sports such as baseball and football and track and field, I've basically been banned or blackballed would be a better way to put it," said Conte in the U.S. boxing magazine Boxing News.
"I've had some elite boxers that have found forgiveness in their hearts and given me the opportunity to work with them. They're all world champions and that's what I enjoy doing - being in the trenches and helping athletes to achieve their dreams and goals. So I'm back having fun."
In 2005, Conte was sentenced to four months in prison and four further months of home confinement. He was charged with having systematically provided athletes with steroids and human growth hormones. The Balco doping lab was exposed by an anonymous tip from an athletics trainer. Conte now sounds reformed.
"I'm so grateful to have a second chance. Why would I do anything to screw it up? I don't think there would be a third chance," he said. He is so thankful that he apparently is working for free. "I do it because I love it. I've made my money."
"I had a talk with Victor, and he's assured me that he's doing everything on the up and up," said American boxing promoter Bob Arum.
"Given his past history, you have to believe that. He'd have to be really insane to (mess) around with all these eyes on him."
The world champion Donaire also does not doubt Conte. "What's not to trust?" he asked. "I told everybody that no matter if they doubt, I'm always willing to do Olympic-style drug testing or any type of drug testing that they want. If they have any doubts - test me. Year-round, Olympic-style, whatever they want because I'm working with Victor. I'm out there."
Conte's first venture in boxing came nine years ago. Back then he provided American Shane Mosley with illegal substances ahead of his split decision victory over world champion Oscar de la Hoya. Shortly after the Balco lab was raided in September 2003, Conte implicated Mosley as a client. The boxer answered with a defamation lawsuit against Conte for 12 million dollars, which Mosley later willingly withdrew.
Conte, who admits having been a boxing fan since childhood, has his boxers' blood tested for mineral deficits and provides them with nutritional supplements while also counselling them with weight loss and everyday training. He even counsels the sports officials of the U.S. state of Nevada in effective doping controls.
For Conte knows that boxing hasn't been clean in a long time. He said illicit performance enhancing drugs are "rampant" in the sport.
"The testing is basically inept. All they're doing, these state boxing commissions, is testing before the fights and after the fights," he said before adding: "(Doping testing programs) are an IQ test, because you're an idiot if you fail one."
03.07.2012 · Text/Pictures: By Arne Leyenberg, dpa / dpa
Los Angeles/Berlin (dpa) - Either he has a real sense of humour or Victor Conte has actually learned his lesson. Those who want to work with Conte must prove even more than others that they are clean. Of all people, Conte - the main figure in one of the biggest doping scandals in sports - values honest athletes.
The former founder of the California steroid-producing sports nutrition centre Balco - which had infamous clients such as world class sprinters Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery and baseball star Barry Bonds - is back in sports.
And it seems only fitting that Victor Conte is making his comeback to boxing, a sport whose reputation could not even be ruined by someone like Conte.
"This is my comeback," Conte said in the U.S. boxing magazine The Ring. Conte is working as a fitness trainer and nutritionist for world champions Nonito Donaire of the Philippines and American Andre Berto as well as former champion Zab Judah of the United States.
The American Olympic and world champion Andre Ward, who in December won the Super Six super middleweight tournament in December, also has long relied on Conte's methods.
Boxing has always been a stomping ground for bizarre and shady figures. And now they have accepted another of the like.
"Other sports such as baseball and football and track and field, I've basically been banned or blackballed would be a better way to put it," said Conte in the U.S. boxing magazine Boxing News.
"I've had some elite boxers that have found forgiveness in their hearts and given me the opportunity to work with them. They're all world champions and that's what I enjoy doing - being in the trenches and helping athletes to achieve their dreams and goals. So I'm back having fun."
In 2005, Conte was sentenced to four months in prison and four further months of home confinement. He was charged with having systematically provided athletes with steroids and human growth hormones. The Balco doping lab was exposed by an anonymous tip from an athletics trainer. Conte now sounds reformed.
"I'm so grateful to have a second chance. Why would I do anything to screw it up? I don't think there would be a third chance," he said. He is so thankful that he apparently is working for free. "I do it because I love it. I've made my money."
"I had a talk with Victor, and he's assured me that he's doing everything on the up and up," said American boxing promoter Bob Arum.
"Given his past history, you have to believe that. He'd have to be really insane to (mess) around with all these eyes on him."
The world champion Donaire also does not doubt Conte. "What's not to trust?" he asked. "I told everybody that no matter if they doubt, I'm always willing to do Olympic-style drug testing or any type of drug testing that they want. If they have any doubts - test me. Year-round, Olympic-style, whatever they want because I'm working with Victor. I'm out there."
Conte's first venture in boxing came nine years ago. Back then he provided American Shane Mosley with illegal substances ahead of his split decision victory over world champion Oscar de la Hoya. Shortly after the Balco lab was raided in September 2003, Conte implicated Mosley as a client. The boxer answered with a defamation lawsuit against Conte for 12 million dollars, which Mosley later willingly withdrew.
Conte, who admits having been a boxing fan since childhood, has his boxers' blood tested for mineral deficits and provides them with nutritional supplements while also counselling them with weight loss and everyday training. He even counsels the sports officials of the U.S. state of Nevada in effective doping controls.
For Conte knows that boxing hasn't been clean in a long time. He said illicit performance enhancing drugs are "rampant" in the sport.
"The testing is basically inept. All they're doing, these state boxing commissions, is testing before the fights and after the fights," he said before adding: "(Doping testing programs) are an IQ test, because you're an idiot if you fail one."