Smokey Joe’s Café
Some say he’s been bad. Others say he’s been very bad. But there is bad and there is BAD. And no matter how bad he may or may not have been, bad of course being relative, he was never worse than on the night of September 15, the night he lost his WBC middleweight crown to Sergio Martinez.
In some ways that fight was a career-definer for Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. That’s not to say he won’t bounce back. That’s not to say he won’t win another title. That’s not to say he won’t uphold the ban on Chavez Sr. from future training camps or jettison Freddie Roach or do any of the 1001 things available to him. But none of it will happen soon, especially since Chavez Jr. is stuck in Mexico, allegedly because of via problems, and was unable to attend today’s Nevada State Athletic Commission hearing to determine just how bad he has been.
The NSAC won’t be looking into Chavez’s lackluster performance against Maravilla. They’ve seen lackluster performances before and that’s of no concern. Nor will they be examining the judging in this fight, or in any other fight for that matter. Chavez Jr. is being taken to task because he failed a drug test, because he tested positive for marijuana after the fight.
Facing a lengthy suspension and possible $3 million fine would seem to be a serious matter. But just as there is bad and bad, there is serious and serious, and some serious people north of the Rio Grande are growing impatient.
“We still need to proceed as quickly as possible,” Commissioner Skip Avansino said. “We are going on four months now from the date of the fight.”
My, how time flies.
We’re not advocating drug use, far from it. There are rules. And yes, Chavez Jr. broke the rules. But just as there is bad and bad, as well as serious and serious, there are rules and there are rules.
Hopefully the NSAC won’t bring down the hammer on Chavez when he finally makes it to the States. The time, no less than the fine, needs to fit the crime.
As Bob Arum correctly pointed out, marijuana is not a performance enhancing drug (unless one is performing with the Grateful Dead).
Maybe, just maybe, sanity will prevail.
Rick 10:50am, 01/09/2013
Personally I don’t see why they even test for marijuana to begin with. Hate to say it but I agree with Uncle Bob on this one, I don’t believe it gives one an unfair advantage. Especially with more states starting to legalize pot use and possesion. It may still be against federal law but we still don’t have a federal sanctioning body. Regardless I think they should be more concerned with up to date doping tests. Didn’t Orlando Salido have a win reversed not too long ago because of a positive marijuana result?
true reader 10:07am, 01/09/2013
nice! nailed it.