Silva and his manager respond to positive test claim
August 21, 2008 by Sam Caplan
Alex Davis, the manager for suspended EliteXC heavyweight champion Antonio Silva, recently issued a statement on behalf of Silva via the Underground forum at MixedMartialArts.com in which Silva proclaims his innocence.
“Dear Family, Friends, Fans and Public, I did not use the steroid Boldenone, or any other steroid of prohibited substance,” Silva’s statement began. “I don’t agree and never have agreed with the use of this kind of product in order to win, for this is cheating. I will go to the full extent of my power and the law to prove my innocence in this matter.”
Boldenone is an anabolic steroid primarily used by veterinarian’s on animals. In response to followups responses written by those who read Silva’s statement, Davis maintained Silva’s innocence but was unsure why the test came out positive.
“My friends, Antonio is one of the hardest working, most serious athletes I know,” wrote Davis. “He also is a man that holds high his principles. We dont know at this point how he tested positive for a horse steroid, but what we do know is that he doesn’t make use of these kind of products. However, we will find out or die trying. We are allways reading about guys getting caught and declaring (their) innocence, and it is always met with a degree of skepticism, but the (truth) is that career hurting mistakes are being made and it is high time the we find out how and why they happen. We are extremely sure of ourselves in this matter and are willing to go to the very gates of hell to prove that we are being wronged. Hopefully, this will not only clear Antonio, but also help clear other peolple that have had the same thing happen to them.”
“There are no guilty men in prison”
I really hope this is an error… As someone who occasionally trains down at ATT Miami, I can assure…performance enhancing drugs are greatly frowned upon by the group.
Could this be something that popped up in his system as a result of the brain surgery he had a year or so ago?
I just don’t get how this alleged “mistake” can happen. I mean the fighter gives his sample and the containers are sealed in front of the fighter and signed. The A sample and B sample get tested at different labs on different equipment. Both samples came back positive for a substance that does not naturally occur in the human body.
Silva and his trainers probably just didn’t realize that this steroid has a very long half-life and can result in positive tests for over a year after the last usage.
I would personally like to see bans of at least 2 years for positive tests…clearly 1 year bans are not sufficient to deter this type of behaviour. Maybe we need to see the Athletic Commissions conduct random testing throughout the year on all fighters licensed to fight.
[...] CR: Five Oz. for the find [...]
JacRabbit,
You are correct. There is no way that Silva was knowingly taking these type of steroids. Silva is a humble guy and always takes the high road.
He could’ve at least acted like a man and admitted it.
His only chance is to show there is a chain of custody problem with the sample, that is, it was diverted from the custody of an official somewhere before it reached the lab for testing.
You don’t accidentally take boldenone. You take it by injection, oral preparations, unless they come from a black market lab, don’t exist, and I know of no black market labs that offer oral boldenone.
Silva either did it or the sample has a chain of custody problem: it was tainted, replaced with someone elses, or a mistake.
I hope Edwin Dewees says the same thing
“I don’t where this 499 ng/mL of Nandrolone came from, seriously”
The classic “I didn’t take those horse steroids” defense. It’s going to be pretty hard for them to prove that two different samples tested at two different labs for a substance that doesn’t occur naturally in the human body were both some kind of mistake.
We need something like monthly tests for these guys or multiple samples going to different certified labs to help clear up whether this new trend of steroid use is actually happening or not.
I guess it would be inconvenient for fight organizations once fighters test postive BEFORE the fight and screw up their fight cards, but at least it would leave the taint on the athlete and not the organization.
Honestly, if they’re testing people once, what’s it matter if it happens two or three times?
Oh my holy urine!
Maybe denying the use of steroids is the best course of action when you’re caught. Either you admit it or deny it. Your reputation is shattered either way, but perhaps there is less damage if you deny it. Though most people will still think he did steroids, there is still some level of doubt left in the minds of some overly supportive fans. If you admit it, there is no doubt.
Some might argue that you get points for honesty, but i think the fighter won’t care after being suspended, fined and their reputation permanently damaged.
@Fedor Emelianenko banned MMA instructional
You could at least act like a rational man and actually say something useful.
Quick, someone get him Sherks cell #
How exactly do these fighters appeal? What is the possible defense? Is there any chance of these labs producing “false” positives? Has there been any research on whether or not certain combinations of supplements can produce positive results? If anyone has any input on these questions, I’d like to hear it. I’ve been tossing around these sort of questions since the Sean Sherk controversey. Now that another high profile fighter has tested positive it is bringing them back to light.
Why does anyone fight in California anymore? It seems that a lot more fighters get “Caught” using steroids in Cali than in Vegas. Perhaps there’s something wrong with the system in either or both places…
I want to believe the guy but it’s hard to when you look at the facts. The only way I believe the guy could possibly be innocent is if he were unknowingly taking a tainted supplement. That’s still no excuse. I know the NFL has an approved brand of supplements that an athlete can take that are guaranteed to be legal. Deep down I know the man just messed up his cycle and got caught…
I dunno how thorough the testing is on these supplements but I think you’d at least have a better argument if you were only taking these supplements. The brand is EAS and the link is below:
http://www.easme.com/protips/label_program.asp
It always amazes me how someone gets caught red handed “beyond resonable doubt” and denies it publicly. You dont think that the comission took every possible route to prove the accusations true prior to making this public and assigning the suspension? Are you kidding? Silva is guilty, his credibility is going to be forever tarnished, and he deserves every bit of the one year suspension and humiliation. On the flipside, Shrek was guilty but never admitted it, and he ended up getting a shot at the belt in his comeback fight. Do you think that this fuels as motivation for Silva to deny the claims?