Antonio Tarver escaped with a draw on June 2 in Carson, Calif., against Lateef Kayode, and now, he's got far bigger problems. The 43-year-old Tarver has tested positive for a banned substance in his post-fight drug tests administered by the California State Athletic Commission.
Steven Feder, Kayode's manager, and CSAC chief inspector Che Guevara spoke about the matter on Friday morning.
"I'm aware of the situation, and I'm going to meet with Lateef this afternoon, and once I do we'll come out with an official comment," said Feder. "We're just very surprised that someone of his stature would even take a risk and even do this. Neither one of us ever thought that someone at this level would ever do this."
Now, it's not clear what the drug was -- it could be a steroid, it could be testosterone, or it could be something that helped him make weight, like a diuretic. It could be marijuana. It could be a lot of things.
But we've got to get away from guys acting all "shocked" after these things happen. Feder has to be aware that this is happening. I mean, what on earth would make these people in boxing believe that "high-level" fighters wouldn't cheat? High-level athletes in every single sport have cheated. Why in the world would boxing be any different?
It sort of does a disservice to the campaign to get this sport regulated with real drug testing. Acting surprised is pretending there's not a problem that everyone knows is a problem.
The only thing that really, truly surprises me about this is that someone of Tarver's stature failed a state athletic commission's test.
As far as I know, Tarver is scheduled to work in the commentary booth tomorrow night on Showtime for the Victor Ortiz vs Josesito Lopez fight.