Vargas suspended, fined $100,000 for steroid use
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Associated Press
LAS VEGAS -- Fernando Vargas went before Nevada boxing authorities Wednesday prepared to take his punishment for using steroids. He just didn't expect so much of it.
Despite putting himself at the mercy of the Nevada Athletic Commission, Vargas was suspended for nine months and fined $100,000 for testing positive for steroids following his Sept. 14 knockout loss to Oscar De La Hoya.
Though the suspension was retroactive to the De La Hoya fight, it means Vargas cannot fight until June 15 and will miss a proposed April comeback fight that was to be televised on network TV.
"We like Mr. Vargas but we feel like this is the right thing to do,'' commission Chairman Luther Mack said.
Vargas spent two hours in front of the commission, telling them he would take responsibility for the positive test, but that he never knowingly used steroids while preparing to meet De La Hoya for the 154-pound titles.
"I live and die in that ring. I don't want people to ever feel I needed something like this,'' Vargas said.
Commissioners appeared to believe the steroid use was inadvertent, but still voted 4-1 to penalize Vargas and send a message that steroids won't be tolerated. It was believed to be the first time a boxer has been suspended for steroid use, although Francois Botha was stripped of his IBF heavyweight title in 1995 for testing positive in Germany.
"I'm a man. I take full responsibility,'' Vargas said. "The only thing is the layoff is definitely going to be hard.''
Vargas said he had hired a nutritionist in the weeks before the fight to help him lose weight and make the 154-pound limit, and took a number of different nutritional supplements and vitamins given to him without questioning them.
He said he had never felt or looked so good before a fight, but had attributed it to the fact he had trained hard and maintained good nutritional habits.
Vargas said he went to three different clinics to give a urine sample after being taken to the hospital after the fight, and was shocked when he got a phone call while vacationing in Hawaii two weeks later that he had tested positive. Nevada just this year began testing for steroids.
The urine test revealed the steroid stanozolol, the same drug that cost sprinter Ben Johnson his gold medal and world record in the 100 meters at the 1988 Olympics.
"I obviously knew I was going to be tested for steroids,'' Vargas said. "I went out of my way after the hospital to look for a clinic.''
Though Vargas and his attorney, Pat English, never came out and blamed the camp nutritionist for giving him steroids, they made it clear the nutritionist had been fired and that any future employees would have their backgrounds scrutinized much more.
"I don't place blame on anyone except myself,'' Vargas said. "At the end of the day I'm the captain of my ship.''
Vargas, who appeared well over the 154-pound weight class where he won two world championships, appeared in a suit and tie and brought his fiance and two young sons to the hearing in a cramped conference room.
Mike Tyson also showed up to watch the proceedings and offer moral support to his friend and fellow fighter.
"It was an innocent mistake. He's just naive,'' Tyson said afterward. "Hopefully he'll grow from this.''
Vargas and English did not contest the steroid test result, and said they tracked it down to a liquid supplement called Decavar that Vargas was taking. Someone in the training camp, they said, apparently added the steroids to the supplement.
Vargas said he wasn't even aware that steroids could be taken orally. He said he thought they had to be administered by a needle.
English argued against the nine-month suspension, asking that it only be for six months so that Vargas could fight in a proposed boxing series on NBC in April. But, although commissioner Flip Homansky voted against it, the rest of the commission approved the nine-month ban.
"I think it was somewhat harsh,'' English said.
In an unsuccessful last-ditch effort to get the ban reduced, Vargas offered to donate his entire purse from his next fight to fund steroid education. Vargas said he would still work to educate others about steroid use.
"I want to serve as an example to all fighters,'' Vargas said. "That is my message and will continue to be my message from this point on.''
Though the fine was substantial, it didn't come close to the $3 million -- or 10 percent of his purse -- that Tyson was fined by the same commission for biting a piece off Evander Holyfield's ear in their 1997 fight.
Vargas' manager, Rolando Arellano, said by the time the pay-per-view receipts are totaled, Vargas will have made between $8 million and $11 million for fighting De La Hoya.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Associated Press
LAS VEGAS -- Fernando Vargas went before Nevada boxing authorities Wednesday prepared to take his punishment for using steroids. He just didn't expect so much of it.
Despite putting himself at the mercy of the Nevada Athletic Commission, Vargas was suspended for nine months and fined $100,000 for testing positive for steroids following his Sept. 14 knockout loss to Oscar De La Hoya.
Though the suspension was retroactive to the De La Hoya fight, it means Vargas cannot fight until June 15 and will miss a proposed April comeback fight that was to be televised on network TV.
"We like Mr. Vargas but we feel like this is the right thing to do,'' commission Chairman Luther Mack said.
Vargas spent two hours in front of the commission, telling them he would take responsibility for the positive test, but that he never knowingly used steroids while preparing to meet De La Hoya for the 154-pound titles.
"I live and die in that ring. I don't want people to ever feel I needed something like this,'' Vargas said.
Commissioners appeared to believe the steroid use was inadvertent, but still voted 4-1 to penalize Vargas and send a message that steroids won't be tolerated. It was believed to be the first time a boxer has been suspended for steroid use, although Francois Botha was stripped of his IBF heavyweight title in 1995 for testing positive in Germany.
"I'm a man. I take full responsibility,'' Vargas said. "The only thing is the layoff is definitely going to be hard.''
Vargas said he had hired a nutritionist in the weeks before the fight to help him lose weight and make the 154-pound limit, and took a number of different nutritional supplements and vitamins given to him without questioning them.
He said he had never felt or looked so good before a fight, but had attributed it to the fact he had trained hard and maintained good nutritional habits.
Vargas said he went to three different clinics to give a urine sample after being taken to the hospital after the fight, and was shocked when he got a phone call while vacationing in Hawaii two weeks later that he had tested positive. Nevada just this year began testing for steroids.
The urine test revealed the steroid stanozolol, the same drug that cost sprinter Ben Johnson his gold medal and world record in the 100 meters at the 1988 Olympics.
"I obviously knew I was going to be tested for steroids,'' Vargas said. "I went out of my way after the hospital to look for a clinic.''
Though Vargas and his attorney, Pat English, never came out and blamed the camp nutritionist for giving him steroids, they made it clear the nutritionist had been fired and that any future employees would have their backgrounds scrutinized much more.
"I don't place blame on anyone except myself,'' Vargas said. "At the end of the day I'm the captain of my ship.''
Vargas, who appeared well over the 154-pound weight class where he won two world championships, appeared in a suit and tie and brought his fiance and two young sons to the hearing in a cramped conference room.
Mike Tyson also showed up to watch the proceedings and offer moral support to his friend and fellow fighter.
"It was an innocent mistake. He's just naive,'' Tyson said afterward. "Hopefully he'll grow from this.''
Vargas and English did not contest the steroid test result, and said they tracked it down to a liquid supplement called Decavar that Vargas was taking. Someone in the training camp, they said, apparently added the steroids to the supplement.
Vargas said he wasn't even aware that steroids could be taken orally. He said he thought they had to be administered by a needle.
English argued against the nine-month suspension, asking that it only be for six months so that Vargas could fight in a proposed boxing series on NBC in April. But, although commissioner Flip Homansky voted against it, the rest of the commission approved the nine-month ban.
"I think it was somewhat harsh,'' English said.
In an unsuccessful last-ditch effort to get the ban reduced, Vargas offered to donate his entire purse from his next fight to fund steroid education. Vargas said he would still work to educate others about steroid use.
"I want to serve as an example to all fighters,'' Vargas said. "That is my message and will continue to be my message from this point on.''
Though the fine was substantial, it didn't come close to the $3 million -- or 10 percent of his purse -- that Tyson was fined by the same commission for biting a piece off Evander Holyfield's ear in their 1997 fight.
Vargas' manager, Rolando Arellano, said by the time the pay-per-view receipts are totaled, Vargas will have made between $8 million and $11 million for fighting De La Hoya.
