The man who conditions two current undisputed champions of the sport, Terence Crawford and Devin Haney, is the subject of a new documentary to air on Netflix.
Victor Conte, a drug-free boxing advocate, was once embroiled in a vast PED scandal that rocked athletics to its very core. He served prison time for his part in the controversy.
Since being released in the mid-2000s, Conte has spoken out against performance enhancing drugs. However, he faces plenty of backlash to this day for the role he played.
Netflix documentary
On Tuesday, a new episode of the Netflix UNTOLD series dropped. The documentary “Hall of Shame” focuses on Conte’s rise, fall, and eventual route back to the top.
It details how Conte is a former musician embroiled in the BALCO saga. Furthermore, he ended up going to a minimum-security prison for four months.
Born in Fresno, California, in 1950, Conte joined a series of bands as a teenager and played bass for the Bay Area group Tower of Power in the late 1970s.
In 1984, he founded the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperate [BALCO]. The company was dedicated to sports nutrition but was later prosecuted for developing designer steroids.
In 2004, Conte was taken into custody for conspiracy to distribute steroids in a scandal that involved superstars like Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery, Barry Bonds, and Bill Romanowski.
Conte ended up spending four months in a minimum-security prison camp. He did not cooperate in legalities against any athletes and accepted full consequences for his actions.
However, in 1987, he founded Scientific Nutrition for Advanced Conditioning [SNAC]. It involves futuristic athletic training methods and the production of nutritional supplements.
The SNAC flagship product ZMA® is a nighttime sleep and recovery formula that has become one of the most successful in sports nutrition history.
Terence Crawford and Devin Haney
Conte has become an outspoken anti-doping advocate. He has worked with world-class boxers since 2009.
The SNAC Team includes many world champions, including Devin Haney [who appears in the film], pound-for-pound king Terence Crawford, Demetrius Andrade, and many others.
In the years since the scandal, there’s no suggestion or link between what happened with BALCO and Conte’s new company.
His most recent interjection into the sport saw Conte call out Errol Spence Jr. before an agreement to face Crawford.
“Hi Errol Spence Jr, please check your DM and respond to the VADA 24/7/365 sponsorship offer made of 100% of the annual fee.
“Terence Crawford has agreed to accept and participate if you are also willing. Please let me know either way. I much respect both of you. Thank you in advance.”
In addition, he said: “Nonsense is being spewed. I respect Errol SpenceJr, but he posted about the need for 24/7/365 testing in boxing, including a hair test.
“I responded with Vada Testing 24/7/365 info. Errol responded by DM. I explained to DM. I have offered to sponsor him and Terence Crawford. The offer [still] stands.”
Crawford would eventually pummel Spence into submission in nine painful rounds.
