Boxing fans have questioned how Artur Beterbiev’s drug test information from over a month ago made it into the public domain during fight week.
Beterbiev was flagged for elevated levels of HGH and testosterone on December 6, either side of perfectly normal results with the Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency.
According to the rules and regulations, the three-belt world champion did nothing wrong as it was not an adverse finding but an ‘atypical finding.’
Another test was taken almost immediately after the findings and came back normal.
His opponent, Callum Smith, and promoter, Eddie Hearn, discussed the situation with the media at the final press conference on Saturday night ahead of the fight.
Hearn, in particular, was delighted the information was out in the open. However, there was no indication about who gave the results to journalist Kevin Iole.
Who leaked Artur Beterbiev’s drug test results?
This led fans to take to social media to question why the results got given an open forum just two days before the fight.
“It makes me wonder how and why those results were made public now. It can’t be a positive for anyone,” said one.
Another added: “The fight needed some more eyeballs on it, good timing on those Beterbiev results.”
Speaking to Fight Hub TV in a media scrum, Hearn admitted he was pleased the leak came about as first reported by Iole.
“It is difficult to release the information because they will feel that people will accuse Artur. Again, it is not an adverse finding, but when those substances are raised levels, we cannot help but investigate further; we would be doing our job,” said Hearn.
“Callum’s lawyer has been doing that with VADA. Again, we would like a little more information, but it will not affect the fight anyway; the fight would only be canceled if there was an adverse test.
“We wanted this information to come out because we wanted an open forum to discuss. It reached a point yesterday that the information would come, and a decision was made that it came out first.
“I would have preferred the information came out earlier so we could have the chance to look further into it. This is not an accusation against Artur Beterbiev. This should be an open forum for all to understand why.”
‘Fairly common in drug testing’
Victor Conte, a long-time detractor of Hearn’s drug testing views, then waded in on the situation.
“Atypical findings are fairly common in drug testing. They are usually not made public because they are not a “positive test” result,” said Conte.
“Some causes of brief spikes in HGH and testosterone include sprint training and heavy squats. Beterbiev had negative tests on December 3 and atypical tests on December 6.
“He then had numerous negative tests shortly thereafter. In my opinion, the squawking being done by Eddie Hearn seems to be more about showboating than anything else.
“He may be attempting to make excuses in advance in the event that his fighter loses,” he concluded.
Beterbiev is raging about the timing of the results coming out.
Read all articles and learn more about the author, experienced boxing writer, and World Boxing News Editor Phil Jay.
