According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, former heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs tested positive for a banned substance in the lead up to his June 3rd WBA title fight with Fres Oquendo and now the fight is cancelled.
On Saturday, Dr. Margaret Goodman, president of the Las Vegas-based Voluntary Anti-Doping Association, which was overseeing drug testing for the bout as part of the WBA’s Fair Boxing Program, sent those involved a letter disclosing that Briggs’ urine sample collected in Hollywood, Florida, on May 14 — and analyzed on May 16 at the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory in Los Angeles — had come back with elevated levels of testosterone.
According to Goodman’s letter, a copy of which was obtained by ESPN, Briggs’ A sample was “analyzed for anabolic agents, diuretics, beta-2 agonists, metabolic modulators, GHRP, hormones and related substances” and that there was an “atypical” finding: his testosterone to epitestosterone ratio was 7.89 to 1. That far exceeds the allowable threshold of 4 to 1 under World Anti-Doping Agency standards.
The Oquendo camp pushed for VADA testing when the fight was being negotiated, but according to a source with knowledge of the testing situation, the Briggs camp balked at first before finally agreeing.
