Richard Schaefer calls for commissions to deal with further drug testing

Richard Schaefer and Golden Boy Promotions have often been at the forefront of the ongoing drug testing issue in boxing, with Golden Boy (including Floyd Mayweather) more than any other promoter working with USADA and, briefly, VADA to bring extra drug testing to the sport.

But Schaefer says that's not really his role, and he believes, as many do, that the state commissions need to do more:

"It is unfortunate that fighters feel the need for extra drug testing. I hope that the authorities which do regulate boxing are hearing the fighters' cry for additional drug testing. I think that it will be up to the commissions to take that up and implement drug testing where a fighter feels safe. That's not up to the promoter.

"I support additional drug testing, but it cannot be the promoter's responsibility," he said. "We're not a regulatory agency. We're not in that business. We are a promoter, and a promoter promotes fights and puts fights together. A promoter does not regulate the sport and does not regulate the protocols for drug testing, and to be honest, they shouldn't, because whether it's me or Bob Arum or Lou DiBella or [Dan] Goossen, what the hell do we know about drug testing? We don't know anything about it. We're not experts in that."

Usually I find some way to take some smartass shot at Schaefer -- I admit it, I am a "hater" -- but this time, no. He's absolutely right. The drug testing should not be on the promoters, or the fighters, to book an outside agent. If there is a need for the extra drug testing, and many fighters believe that there is (along with anyone who has a functioning brain and gives a damn about safety and things like that), then the commissions need to work together and figure out some way to regulate this stuff. Outside of getting a true central body, which won't happen any time soon, it's the most logical and reasonable option, in my view.

How would it happen? That I do not know. I am not an expert in that. I am only an expert in the Waylon Jennings discography.