By Norm Frauenheim –
It looks as if Oscar Valdez won the argument. He’s expected to fight, expected to defend his junior-lightweight title on Sept. 10 in a homecoming, according to an ESPN report both in English and Spanish. But he could have never known he’d be going home to so much controversy.
Fight or no fight, the controversy will be there at Casino del Sol, about 12 miles down the road from downtown Tucson where he grew up.
It’ll be in headlines and social media. It’s already been there, a virtual storm of criticism and the usual taunts. Brazilian challenger Robson Canceicao might be a lot easier to beat than questions that promise to come at Valdez like dangerous punches from unseen angles.
Valdez’ title, patience and poise are among the heightened stakes in an expected fight that appeared to be in real jeopardy just a day ago because of a positive test for a reported stimulant.
Three contentious days full of an ongoing debate about whether he should or shouldn’t fight appeared to end late Thursday. The Top Rank-promoted fight is on, according to ESPN’s Mike Coppinger, who cited unnamed sources in his report.
The reported decision to go forward came a day after a Zoom meeting that included Top Rank, Valdez attorney Pat English, the World Boxing Council’s Mauricio Sulaiman and the Pascua Yaqui.
The fight at an outdoor arena adjacent to the casino is subject to approval and jurisdiction by the Pascua Yaqui commission. 15 Rounds could not confirm ESPN’s report. There was no answer to calls to Commissioner Ernie Gallardo’s office at the Pascua Yaqui headquarters. However, the bout was still advertised on both Casino del Sol and Top Rank websites late Thursday.
The reported decision also came down a few hours after news, also from Coppinger, that Valdez’ B-sample tested positive.
Who’s right? Who’s wrong? Who knows? There’s never much clarity, much less certainty, in the hazy, balkanized business of boxing and drugs. We can only be sure that there probably will be another opening bell.
As this one approaches, public and pundits are increasingly split, thumbs up or thumbs down. But it’s not that simple.
Deliberations had been ongoing since the story broke Tuesday on ESPN, which also is scheduled to televise Valdez-Conceicao on its premium channel, ESPN+.
There’s an inherent conflict-of-interest in ESPN’s role. Emphasis on conflict. But boxing wouldn’t have its corner on chaos without the messy mix of conflicting interests. It’s always there, often just beneath the surface, but always ready to emerge with more conflict, confusion and controversy.
That made everything about Thursday’s news volatile, hard to predict. As I wrote early Thursday, the jury was still out. A decision was expected soon. But mostly the controversy raged on, especially on social media.
It’s been noisy enough for ESPN to sell more premium buys for the bout. Yes, that’s cynical. But cynicism, like conflict, is also part of boxing.
Let’s face it, Valdez-Conceicao was interesting. And it still figures to be more competitive than expected. But it was never a must-see bout. Until now.
Over just a few days, it’s been transformed — turned into a hot-button issue — for fans who might have had a moderate interest, but now have a definite opinion. They’ll buy the telecast.
Add to that, a capacity crowd – about 5,000 – at Casino del Sol’s Ampitheatre. Sellouts, in any sport, have been rare during the Pandemic. This will be an exception.
The Pascua Yaqui is not new to professional boxing. It knows what it’s getting into. The Tribal Commission has been regulating bouts since Fernando Vargas fought there in 2003. It’s also a Commission that’s been caught squarely in the conflict-of-interest web. Fair or not, a sellout will be seen as motivation for the Pascua Yaqui to sanction the bout, despite the positive test for a banned substance.
The Pascua Yaqui commission is aligned with the Association of Boxing Commissions, which means it should follow its guidelines.
Then again, so is the Arizona State Boxing & MMA Commission, which licensed Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. to fight Danny Jacobs in December 2019. Chavez turned to Arizona when Nevada said no after he reportedly ran away from VADA when it showed up at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles prepared to subject him to a a random test.
Chavez got his AZ license and then went on to lose, quitting on the stool against Jacobs, at the Phoenix Suns arena. The crowd erupted, throwing debris in a near-riot. But that’s another story.
Another Arizona story.
This chapter will be controversial for everyone involved, regardless of what happens.
It’s inevitable that discussion at Wednesday’s meeting included an argument that Valdez tested positive for a substance, phentermine, that WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) prohibits only on the day of competition. Valdez’ underwent the test while training mid-August in San Diego.
If Valdez were a UFC fighter, there’d be no doubt. according to Kevin Iole in a story for Yahoo. WADA rules apply, meaning Valdez would be fighting on Sept. 10 without questions.
But this is boxing, meaning options, loopholes and argument. The Valdez test was conducted by VADA (Voluntary Anti-Doping Association). WADA, VADA, nobody knows nada. But there’s a difference, minor most of the time but major now.
VADA doesn’t differentiate between in-competition and out-of-competition when it comes to phentermine, which suppresses the appetite for people trying to lose weight. It’s banned, period.
For someone who had plans to cover the fight, I would have been happy if everyone just tested positive for Moderna.
But I understand the argument that Valdez, a good guy, should be held accountable. Perhaps, he was confused. As a two-time Mexican Olympian, he was under WADA rules. As a pro, he’s under VADA rules. Too many different rules mean no rule at all. Confusion is understandable. But not an excuse.
That said, everybody on social media and elsewhere, please, stop condemning Valdez. Please, get off the pulpit. There’s no high ground in boxing. There’s just that messy collection of rules, regs, commissions, acronyms, egos and self-interest.
If Valdez wins, he’ll still have to deal with scarring questions that never go away. His stablemate, Canelo Alvarez, still gets hammered by talk from the cheap seat in social media about whether tainted Mexican beef was the real reason he tested positive for performance-enhancing clenbuterol in 2018.
Meanwhile, boxing continues to sow the confusion that allows it to move on. That’s unfair to Valdez and any other fighter so often caught in the middle.
Don’t blame him. Blame the business.
