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Oh, it would have been something if the Arab-American kid out of Canarsie went to the 2008 Olympics and came back to BK with gold around his neck. That would have been a hoot, and a great teaching moment, too, if a kid named "Sadam" won gold for the U.S.

But the rush to gold went off the rails in the the prelims in Beijing, and the road following the Olympics hasn't gone exactly as Sadam Ali would've wanted. That is not to say, though, that his is a tale of woe, a premature 'what might have been' story. No sir. Ali is 14-0, with 8 KOs, and continues a march to professional fulfillment on June 2, when he takes on Franklin Gonzalez (15-9) at the Aviator Complex at Floyd Bennett Field in South Brooklyn.

He's still in the mix as a prospect, albeit one who needs to bring his own spotlight with him if he wants to show off his skills to the masses. Ali, you see, has taken it on himself to promote himself, stage his own show, take the financial risk for success or failure of the card. I chatted with the 23-year-old, who's nicknamed "Worldkid," on Tuesday, at a press conference in Cobble Hill, to bang the drums for the June 2 show. I wondered if it might be too much to wear the hat of both promoter and headliner. Check out what he has to say in the accompanying video.

Anthony Catanzaro, who manages welterweight champ Paulie Malignaggi and is part of Team Ali, thinks the kid can pull it off. "You can do it if you have the right team around you," he said. "A team that all has the same goal, and that is the best interest of the fighter."

It's a fair bet that Ali, who turned pro in January 2009, could not have seen coming the new economy that's been with us since the fiscal meltdown of 2008. Promoters are less inclined to take a chance on a guy now. They'd be more keen to do so if he has a built-in fan base, a gang of rooters who can be relied upon to fill up a little arena and provide a rocking atmosphere if a TV gig arises. That's what Ali is working on.

"This is not the last of me," the two-time NY Golden Gloves champ said after his opening-round loss in Beijing. "(Boxing) is my life." No more so than when he gets the 15th phone call of the day from a person asking about tickets. But no, he tells me when I ask if it's too much, he can handle the full plate.

We shall see come June 2.

The 21-year-old Marcus Browne will leave Staten Island, N.Y., where he still lives with mom Doris Jeffrey and stepfather Patrick Brown, for the Olympic Games on June 27, when he will begin a two-week camp ahead of the tournament. On the journey overseas, it's a safe bet he will periodically flash back to when he was a kid, before he followed his pal N'wachi Hartley in 2003 to the gym, how he cruised the neighborhood looking for trouble ... and he will remind himself how far he has come.

Now, if the kid didn't have some stubbornness in him, the good kind, he might have gotten a taste of the ring and never come back. Browne used to see Hartley, nicknamed "Speedy," hustle out of his building with his gym bag on his shoulder, day in, day out, at 4:30 p.m., to go to the gym for sparring.

Marcus asked him what that was. I'll show you, "Speedy" promised. Marcus went to the gym and got thrown in the deep water right away. A body shot from a bigger kid, schooled in the art, had him almost crying. Many, if not most, kids would have been one and done. But Browne came back the next day, and the day after that, and kept coming back even after Hartley was hit by a car and killed as he was walking to the gym in 2008.

Browne wouldn't promise me he'd come back to SI with gold, but it's no secret that he craves it, that he knows what it would mean to him and his family. No, it's not 1976, a gold medal doesn't translate into a windfall signing bonus and a title shot within three years. But Browne would like to experience standing on that podium holding that winner's medal aloft. "I'm not cocky, but confident," he said. "I'm not going to say I might lose, settle for silver. I know I have what it takes to win gold, but I got to put the work in. I've put my foot in my mouth a couple times, and don't like the feeling."

I loved the wisdom the kid showed me during a 20-minute chat; it seems like he has learned from his missteps, and that is such a stellar trait to have. Most of us have to learn and re-learn lessons multiple times with negative reinforcement. Browne already got a little taste of the reverence that can come with attaining a hard-fought goal; last Monday, Twitter informed him that his account was tagged with the "verified" tag. No one cares if some dirty little kid who runs around bullying the weaker links on the playground is "verified." So Browne has already come a million miles from where he used to be. If he wins gold in London, his character, dedication and mettle will be verified that much more.

A boxing writer will find himself defending his vocation quite often when making a new acquaintance.

"But ... isn't boxing brutal? Do you ever find yourself wondering if it should exist?" I hear quite regularly soon after shaking a new hand.

And the answer is alway, "Yes ... it can be brutal. But I do believe there is a place for the sport in this society ... because boxing has given thousands upon thousands of youths who were headed for a bad end, and who might have left a wake of carnage and lingering woe in their wake as they trod clumsily and violently on their way, a purpose, a reason for being. There can be a heavy price to pay when you box, but it is by and large a toll taken on oneself, and the toll that would be taken on the street if so many of these kids didn't box is simply immeasurable."

This is not to say that Staten Island's Marcus Browne, the three-time N.Y. Golden Gloves champion who is headed to the London Olympics where he will try to land a gold medal at light heavyweight for himself and his nation, would have been public enemy number one had he not found the ring.

He described himself to me in a recent interview as a "bully," and "a hard-headed, dirty little little kid" and "a troublemaker" and said that he was always looking for fights. But it doesn't take a leap of imagination to comprehend that it was a distinct possibility that the kid who admitted that he used to take advantage of those weaker than him would have graduated to a higher grade of violence and mischief as he got older. "What road I was on I can't tell what my future would hold," he told me. "But I was on a path to destruction."

Unlike in any other sport, a boxer often needs to treat his exit as something of a detoxification process. Boxing is something that must be expelled from the system, oftentimes violently. The urge to compete in the squared circle, sadly, often must be beaten out of a man. Fighters are some of the most stubborn athletes alive, and that trait is typically a net positive ... until the body starts to slip. Then, the drive to compete at the highest level, the willpower that forces a pugilist to drive himself when mere mortals would have whimpered 'no mas,' can become a self-destructive feature.

On Friday night in Albany, boxing was removed from David Telesco. The 44-year-old Port Chester, N.Y. light heavyweight believed in his heart, mind and gut that he had one more run in him. Even though he was whacked by a 2,000-pound metal bar off a garbage truck on the sanitation route he works in Port Chester a few years ago, and a neurologist told him a weaker man would have died from the impact, he thought his maturity, his wisdom, and his drive would make up for any minute slippage of his physical skills. He was going to have around three fights, sharpen himself up, and challenge Chad Dawson, the WBC light heavyweight champion who downed Bernard Hopkins three weeks ago.

The first of the three fights, though, didn't end well. Vincent Miranda, a 14-1 Puerto Rican, knocked out Telesco (30-8-1), who once challenged Roy Jones for his 175-pound crown back in 2000, in the fifth round at the Times Union Center.

Telesco told me that he has read the writing on the wall, and the bruises on his face. He has reached the end of the line, after 21 years as a pro, and 39 fights. He needed to be convinced -- the facts needed to be established in violent fashion that it is time for younger men to grab for the gold.

"The fight didn't go as planned," Telesco told me on Saturday. "I guess the injuries on the job kept me from performing the way I wanted to. I couldn't let my hands go when needed. As of now I will announce my retirement. I thank the boxing industry and reporters over the years that covered me and most of all, my fans!"

It's a pretty easy interview, asking the man who turned 44 on May 6 why he's coming back to the ring, why he can't get boxing out of his bloodstream and focus on a less taxing vocation.

You ask why.

Why, David Telesco, 30-7-1 former light heavyweight contender out of Port Chester, N.Y., why are you back in the ring at the Times Union Center in Albany tonight, fighting 14-1 Vincent Miranda on a card to be featured on ESPN2's "Friday Night Fights"?

"It's mind over matter," he told me. "About age, if I don't mind, it don't matter. I live a clean life, and I'm healthier than 20-year-old guys."

Telesco had long-ago trainer Hector Roca check him out in the gym, assess his reflexes, the whole nine, and said the esteemed tutor gave him the go ahead. They last worked together when Telesco was on the way up, a kid in his early 20s. The boxer insists he will again ascend, and tells me after a few fights he believes he can be the best version of himself there ever was.

Chad Dawson (31-1; age 29) who just defeated the sport's most sage pugilist, 47-year-old Bernard Hopkins, a month ago, is in his sights.

"I realized, I'm not getting any younger, let's see how far we can go," Telesco said. "Dawson is 25 minutes from me in Connecticut. What a great show we could put on for the hometown fans, at Foxwoods."

I asked forgiveness, but a most natural question to ask a comebacking fighter is: Are you doing it for the money?

Is he? Telesco said that is not a factor, that he has money saved up from his sanitation gig, a pension, the whole deal.

He last gloved up on Oct. 21, 2009, losing to Byron Mitchell via TKO2. He said that he was still feeling the effects of an on-the-job injury which occurred a year before, when a metal bar off a garbage truck slammed into the back of his head. A neurologist told him someone with a softer head would have died. But Telesco's is hard, and so is his resolve; he said he will now be paying more attention to defense than he did in his heyday.

That recent birthday was a happy occasion, but twinges of what-might-have-been did surface. He did earn a title shot against Roy Jones in 2000, losing a UD12. But once a boxer, always a boxer, for most of the best of them.

"I had a birthday, and sometimes it messes with the mental," he admitted. "But I am living a clean life. Guys in their 20s don't want to train with me. I've changed for the better. To my hometown, I want to say: Get ready, we're going on a ride, one more time."

Speaking to 21-year-old U.S. Olympic boxer Marcus Browne on Monday kept giving me flashbacks to when I was 21, and setting new records for doing stupid stuff. During a recent phoner, I told the young light-heavyweight, who grew up and lives on Staten Island, as much, because I couldn't help myself. I was that impressed with his sense of humor, his easygoing manner of communicating and his humility. Bottom line, the kid impressed the hell out of me and I found myself doing what "they" say you shouldn't do as an objective reporter ... I found myself rooting for the kid to get gold.

A three-time NY Golden Gloves champ, two-time National PAL Champion and 2012 USA Boxing National Champion, Browne qualified to take part in the London games on May 8, when he beat Dominican Felix Valera, 12-6, at the Americas Qualifier in Rio de Janeiro. He'd already gotten over the hump to make the U.S. Team when he won at the Olympic Trials last August. But he didn't finish in the top 10 at the Worlds in October, so he had to beat Valera in the quarterfinals, to actually solidify a place in the ring in London.

I asked Browne how it felt, following in the footsteps of the last American to win gold, fellow light heavyweight Andre Ward (2008), who is today seen as one of the five best pound-for-pound pros in the world.

"It's definitely a great feeling," he said, "but I'm still hungry. It's cool to do this step in the journey. But I've been working on the strategy for years, it was not unexpected. I'm not really surprised. Now, I'm focused on the goal."

I liked Browne's mix of confidence (not cockiness), introspection and humility. He said that Varela wasn't a tough out ("He didn't have the legs and speed, he was trying to load up and I was seeing everything"), and that he didn't get the buzz he maybe expected from the win. "I didn't get the crazy feeling I thought I'd get," Browne said. "I celebrated for like ten minutes." That's because he had to fight two more times; he won both bouts, and got a taste of international gold when he beat Brazilian Yamaguchi Florentino in the tourney final, 12-6.

The lefty, who comes out of the Teddy Atlas Cops N Kids Gym and is trained by Gary Stark Sr., describes himself as "a boxer-puncher. I use a lot of lateral movement. I'm not stationary, I'm slick. Go on YouTube, and be the judge for yourself. I don't like talking about myself. They say the trumpeter who toots his own horn is not going to be as famous as one who lets others do it for him. I've got to stay humble and hungry."

Check back for more on Browne, including how he got into the sport, and how he felt when he got verified. The kids will know what that last reference means ...

Paul Malignaggi now recalls what it's like to be Mr. Popularity. Since he lifted the WBA welterweight title from Vyacheslav Senchenko on April 29, the Twitter King (#TK) has been targeted by this boxer and that. And he's loving the attention. Devon Alexander, through his talkative trainer Kevin Cunningham, has perhaps been the most vocal in trying to lure the 31-4 Malignaggi, who last held a world title in 2008, to the table.

"Paulie needs to stop lying to the fans, and if he doesn't want to fight Devon, just man up and say, 'I don't want to fight Devon.' Man up and don't make all these accusations. Cut all the b-----t," Cunningham said in a piece which ran on the website Fighthype. The trainer said Malignaggi announced that Alexander, the junior welter champion who now campaigns at 147, ducked a fight with him. Cunningham said that is not so, that the 23-1 fighter out of St. Louis took a fight against Marcos Maidana in February because HBO and Showtime wouldn't buy a Malignaggi fight.

So, I reached out to Paulie, fully confident that he'd return fire. He lives for returning fire.

Guess what?

He took a pass.

"It's too soon to get into it with possible opponents," said the 31 year-old boxer, who will take some time to soak in his win with a vacay in Europe this summer. "Literally, the line of guys that want to fight is so long that it's overwhelming to think about it." He said he will soon enough sift through offers, and determine what makes the most sense. He said that he doesn't expect to get a soft touch defense and that "when the time comes people will get a fight worth watching in October."

Freddie Roach got around to watching the May 5 Floyd Mayweather-Miguel Cotto fight last night. You'll forgive Dedham Freddie for the delay; he has an excuse, in that he's been knee deep in getting Amir Khan ready for the Lamont Peterson rematch, which was going to happen this Saturday, before the tussle was scotched because Peterson submitted a dirty sample. Plus, he's been working with Manny Pacquiao to get the Congressman ready for a stiff test on June 9, against Tim Bradley. So ... was Freddie impressed with Mayweather? Fans seemed to be; they liked that "Money" gave them their money's worth, forgoing dancing and defense, and instead indulging in more trading than we've been accustomed to.

"Floyd's legs are a little shot," Freddie told ESPN New York. "He can't move like he used to, he's a lot more hittable. He used to run, he can't run anymore. So Pacquiao will catch him."

New York fight fans who stayed up late to watch the debut of Jim Lampley's "The Fight Game" on HBO on Saturday, at midnight -- or sad sacks like me, who fell asleep before it came on, and watched it off the DVR -- had to be tantalized by the tidbit dropped after Lampley chatted with Golden Boy Promotions' day-to-day chief Richard Schaefer. Lampley said the promoter told him, off air, that he could see the Mexican phenom Canelo Alvarez, who just decisioned Shane Mosley on the May 5 Mayweather-Cotto undercard, fighting Miguel Cotto at Madison Square Garden in December.

Mouths started to water among those who pondered the showdown between the barely-out-of-his-teens Canelo, age 21, and the 31-year-old Cotto, in a Mexico vs Puerto Rico square-off at MSG. There has been a sad dearth of megafights at MSG in the last decade, and this one surely would blow the roof off.

In 2002, we saw zero fights in the big room; in 2003, the Vitali Klitschko-Kirk Johnson heavyweight clash; in 2004, John Ruiz and Fres Oquendo lit off a stinkbomb that lingered for years; Felix Trinidad had the joint jumping in a TKO win over Ricardo Mayorga; Ruiz rumbled with Andrew Golota on a DKP heavyweight festival; in 2005, James Toney, on a PED, beat Ruiz; and Cotto rode the Puerto Rican Day Parade wave with a win over Muhammad Abdullaev; in 2006, Zab Judah slipped against Carlos Baldomir; Cotto paraded to a win over Paul Malignaggi; Wladimir Klitschko rubbed out Calvin Brock; in 2007, Cotto got a TKO11 win over Judah; Golota stopped Kevin McBride in a heavy heavy card; and Cotto came back to NY to decision Shane Mosley; in 2008, Roy Jones faced Trinidad; Wladimir Klitschko beat Sultan Ibragimov; Joe Calzaghe downed Roy Jones; in 2009, Cotto hammered Michael Jennings in the winter; he came back again to beat Joshua Clottey to coincide with the parade; in 2010, there were no boxing cards in the big room; in 2011, Cotto got his revenge against MargaCheato in December. Thus far in 2012, there hasn't been a boxing card in the big room. (The diminishing promotional presence of Don King has greatly affected fans of fights at MSG.)

So, as you can see, boxing has been under-represented at MSG in the last couple years. A Canelo-Cotto clash would be the biggest buzz jolt from boxing since Cotto-Judah and Cotto-Mosley, and I do believe would surpass both of those for electricity. Correct me if you think I'm wrong, but I feel a Canelo-Cotto scrap would draw the most boxing heat in that building since the Sept. 29, 2001 Bernard Hopkins-Felix Trinidad clash. Readers, do you agree?

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency took issue with assertions made by Victor Conte in a May 9 NYFightBlog post ("Peterson-Khan II off; Victor Conte told us so").

Conte was introduced to the sports world when his BALCO empire was busted in 2004. He was indicted for distributing steroids and had to serve four months in prison in 2005 and 2006. The California resident, who now runs a nutritional supplement company, has of late been vocal about what he says is the rampant use and abuse of PEDs in the sports world. He has been working with several boxers, including ex-welterweight champion Andre Berto and current super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire, advising them on training methods and supplement use.

After junior welterweight champion Lamont Peterson (30-1; age 28; from D.C.) tested positive for a banned substance on Tuesday, NYFightBlog checked in with Conte, the man who helped create a number of designer performance enhancers and admitted he crafted PED intake plans for some of the world's foremost athletes.

Fight fans were amped to see if Peterson could perform as well on May 19 as he did on Dec. 10, when he beat WBA and IBF champion Amir Khan via split decision. We asked for Conte's take on the positive test, and the ramifications when the disappointing news hit the wires.

Conte, not one to shrink into the background following his stint of ignominy, weighed in.

In the May 9 post, he applauded the outfit that oversaw the Peterson-Khan tests, VADA (Voluntary Anti-Doping Association), and opined that it was to VADA's credit that Peterson was flagged for what turned out to be usage of synthetic testosterone. Conte took heavy shots at the testing giant USADA (U.S. Anti-Doping Agency), the national anti-doping organization for the U.S. Olympic team, named by Congress the official anti-doping agency for Olympic, Pan American and Paralympic sport in the U.S.

Specifically, Conte said the USADA might not have caught Peterson because, Conte maintained, it does not use the CIR (carbon isotope ratio) test on every sample.

"If USADA were doing the testing, he said, the CIR test would only have been done if a red flag was raised from their testosterone-to-epitestosterone test, or T/E ratio, test," the original post read. "Under USADA rules, if the T/E level breaches a 4-1 ratio, a CIR is then administered."((

USADA reached out to NYFightBlog to dispute the Conte claims about when it uses the CIR test. I should have reached out to USADA earlier. ((USADA furnished a statement to this writer disputing much of what Conte said in the blog post.

"CIR is a regular part of the USADA testing program for all athletes under USADA's jurisdiction, as well as a routine part of the anti-doping programs conducted by USADA in the sport of professional boxing," USADA said. "It is completely inaccurate to say that CIR testing would only be done if a T/E ratio is 4-1."

Conte told NYFightBlog that VADA flagging the Peterson specimen will result in the embrace of the CIR test by testing entities, and the jettisoning of the T/E ratio test, which he disputed as a loophole you can fit a Mack truck through.

USADA countered that CIR has, in fact, been embraced in the testing community:

"CIR has been used by anti-doping organizations internationally since the early 2000s and there have been many athletes sanctioned by USADA and other national anti-doping organizations around the world as the result of CIR testing. CIR is an important tool in our toolbox and we use it strategically and effectively."

Conte, in the May 9 post, didn't hide his take that he thinks VADA's screen are superior to USADA's. USADA reached out to NYFightBlog to rebut what it says are erroneous assertions by Conte, and assure sports fans that their protocol and test plans are top grade.

"USADA also collects longitudinal data that allows us to monitor any fluctuations in an athlete's own biological parameters and closely examine any changes or indicators," USADA said. "(USADA) can also confirm that for the (May 5) Mayweather vs. Cotto fight, all of the samples collected from both fighters underwent CIR testing."

The fallout from the Peterson positive, shocking to the fight game community since we heard that he'd been the one to push hard for stringent testing, continues to ripple. Khan (26-2; age 25; living in England) issued a statement after word dropped that the fight was scrapped.

"No one was more shocked and upset by the cancellation of next week's fight than me," he said. "I had been training hard for almost eight weeks and was ready to put on a dazzling performance and win my belts back. I know many of you purchased tickets for the fight and had planned to make the trip to Las Vegas next weekend. For any inconvenience or hardship this cancellation has caused, I am truly sorry."

Team Peterson also put out a statement: "We still stand behind the fact that he did nothing wrong and he was more than ready to go through with the May 19 fight."

They insist that Peterson had extremely low levels of testosterone in his system, and a physician prescribed testosterone supplements in November 2011, before his fight with Khan.

You'll hear, if you're affiliated with the sweet science, the assertion that "boxing is dead." It oftentimes comes from someone older, 40, 50, 60, who is comparing it to periods like the Ali or Tyson eras. My response is usually something along the lines of, 'Well, if Floyd Mayweather fought Manny Pacquiao, some 2.5 million purchases will be made of the event on pay-per-view, and some quarter billion dollars of revenue would be generated by that fight...so if that's dead, then I'd like to see how the sport does "alive."'

Here are some stats you can throw out there if you need to defend the sport, and convince someone that there is some life in the old girl yet. HBO sent out this release, touting the numbers that the May 5 Mayweather-Cotto fight did.

May 11, 2012 – NEW YORK -- HBO Sports^® reported today that 1.5 million pay-per-view buys were generated from the May 5 super welterweight title fight between Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The fight was promoted by Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions.

The 1.5 million buy total generated $94 million in pay-per-view revenue.

The performance of Mayweather-Cotto ranks as the second highest grossing non-heavyweight pay-per-view event in boxing history. No. 1 all-time is Mayweather’s record-setting showdown with Oscar de la Hoya ($137 million) in 2007.

Mayweather owns a perfect 43-0 record as a professional prizefighter.

Mayweather vs. Cotto along with the co-feature of Alvarez vs. Mosley will replay exclusively on HBO Saturday, May 12 at 10:15 p.m. ET/ PT.

Not too shabby for a corpse, eh?

Tuesday was a nice day for Victor Conte. For starters, he wasn't in jail. Not being flippant; the former BALCO bad boy, among athletes the most notable face of steroids and chemical transgressions in pursuit of performance and loot, spent four months locked up at the end of 2005 and into 2006 for distributing steroids.

Beyond being free, he was feeling a sense of satisfaction and vindication, because something he'd been railing about had, seemingly, been proven correct. It had been announced that D.C. boxer Lamont Peterson, who on December 10, 2011, had beaten Amir Khan and lifted Khan’s two junior welterweight belts from him in the process, tested positive for a banned substance.

Peterson was counting down to a May 19 rematch title defense, a re-do with Khan in Las Vegas, and had agreed to a stringent prefight testing regimen. In fact, he’d pushed for the regimen.

It emerged that a sample taken on March 19 came up dirty, for an anabolic steroid chemical; ESPN's Dan Rafael reported that Nevada athletic commission chief Keith Kizer told him that Peterson's counsel in fact admitted that the substance which caused the red flag was synthetic testosterone. Another sample, from the same specimen, was tested, and also was red-flagged by VADA (Voluntary Anti-Doping Association), the outfit run by ex-Nevada ring doc head Margaret Goodman.

Peterson provided another specimen on April 13, which passed muster, as clean. But he didn't make it out of the woods; he would've had to provide an explanation to the Nevada commission to maintain his license to fight in Nevada. Before the specifics of that hearing coalesced, the plug was pulled on the whole card, by promoter Golden Boy. One could have seen where it might have been hard for the commission to give him the go-ahead, considering that the testosterone could give him an unfair advantage over Khan, who has not submitted an unclean specimen (as far as we know).

I reached out to Conte, who is quite likely among a handful of the most knowledgeable folks on this subject matter because of his nefarious past, though he maintains he is through with any dark-side behavior.

He said that yes, Peterson could achieve an unfair advantage by using synthetic testosterone ahead of a fight.

"That would enhance recovery, accelerate healing and tissue repair, and you can train harder and recover quicker," Conte said, "and it helps build lean muscle mass as well. I believe usage is rampant, and has been for a very long time."

He addressed the cancellation, word of which dropped a bit before 9 p.m. ET Wednesday, hammering Peterson for the debacle and for what he deems reckless behavior. "Hopefully the boxing world as a whole will learn some valuable lessons from this very unfortunate situation."

We note that Rafael reported that Peterson's attorney told Kizer that Peterson admits he used a testosterone supplement before the December bout, on the recommendation of a physician, to bolster a low count. So it appears the boxer will be defending himself with the explanation that a doctor OK'd the drug use. As of this posting, we have not heard from Team Peterson for its take on the cancellation, or further clarification of the admitted usage.

Conte was in an almost buoyant mood Tuesday, not because he has anything against Peterson. Indeed, I asked him up front if he had any dog in the hunt, considering he has consulted with boxers like Andre Berto and Nonito Donaire. No, he said, he has no vested interest in the (now DOA) Peterson-Khan rematch.

He said he was pleased because this positive was proof of what he’s been harping on for a few years, that PED usage is higher than most think, and that athletes are gaming the system because they know the existence of loopholes. Conte has said that testing heavyweight USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency), which does the testing for U.S. Olympians, doesn't have tough-enough standards, especially as compared to VADA. (Conte did have discussions with USADA years ago about being a consultant, but those broke down amid acrimony.)

VADA's methods caught Peterson, Conte said, while USADA's might have deemed the specimen clean. The Peterson sample detected a banned substance because a CIR (carbon isotope ratio) test was done, as per VADA's typical protocol. If USADA were doing the testing, Conte said, the CIR test would only have been done if a red flag was raised from their testosterone-to-epitestosterone test, or T/E ratio, test. Under USADA rules, if the T/E level breaches a 4-1 ratio, a CIR is then administered.

But Conte insists that the smart cheaters know not to breach the USADA T/E ratio, so they can, say, triple the amount of synthetic testosterone in their system, and yet still not trip a USADA warning buzzer.

"Knowing the 4 to 1 ratio is a huge loophole," Conte told me. "This is in my opinion biggest loophole in drug testing." (Note: I haven't seen official documentation regarding what the Peterson T/E ratio was. Conte's sourcing indicates that it was low enough that it would not have breached the USADA 4:1 acceptance level, or the 6:1 level allowed by the Nevada commission.)

Conte thinks that VADA flagging the Peterson specimen will result in the embrace of the CIR test, and the jettisoning of the T/E ratio test, which he dismisses as a loophole you can fit a Mack truck through.

"This is historic," he exulted, noting that the technology to flag such specimens as Peterson's have been around since the '90s, but has not been used to correct effect. (He has railed in video you can find on YouTube that testing methods aren't used properly because many entities do not want to catch athletes, for the record. That makes for compelling theory, but without proof, it's not my place to go there. Though my pal Ron Borges sagely just Tweeted that the cancellation of the event makes one understand that at the very least it might not be so high on the list of some of the sports' powers-that-be to have testing right up to an event date. Might we see language inserted in contracts putting dirty athletes on the hook for revenue lost if a card is scuttled?)

"It will have an impact at what they do at the Olympic games. The important message is people need to understand the difference between VADA and USADA testing," Conte said. "People must realize what I've been saying for years is the truth."

UPDATE: Team Peterson put out a statement, which Dan Rafael posted here. The fighter is maintaining that he suffers from low testosterone, and that is why he supplemented his testosterone. If he provides ample, irrefutable lab results from rock-solid sources, that would go some way in restoring his credibility, in my opinion. Why he didn't know, or chose not to, apparently, inform the Nevada commission of this condition and the treatment is not fathomable to me at this time.

PED scandals haven't tainted boxing the way they have baseball and football but the sweet science is smack dab in the middle of a situation which imperils one of the most anticipated bouts of this half year. Lamont Peterson is set to rematch Amir Khan on May 19 in Las Vegas; the DC-based junior welterweight is looking to beat Khan more conclusively than he did when they gloved up in DC last December. In that effort, Peterson won a split decision and came away with Khan's WBA and IBF junior welter titles. Controversy attached to the win because Peterson won on the cards of two judges by a single point, and during the course of the contest, the Brit Khan had two points taken away by the ref for pushing Peterson.

Now, more controversy has arisen.

On Monday, word came out that Peterson had tested positive for a banned substance, after submitting a sample during pre-fight testing he agreed to do. More specifics emerged today, with Khan's promoter Richard Schaefer holding a conference call to shed some light on the Peterson positive. The Golden Boy chief said he got word Monday from Nevada athletic commission head Keith Kizer that Peterson tested positive for a chemical that indicated he used an anabolic steroid. A specimen taken March 19, the 'A' sample, Schaefer said, tested positive, and was reported on April 12 to the outfit doing the testing, VADA (Voluntary Anti-Doping Association). VADA told Peterson of the positive the next day. As is his right, he asked that a second sample, the 'B' sample, also from the March 19 specimen, be tested. It was tested by VADA on April 30, and also came back positive, Schaefer said. A sample furnished by Peterson on April 13 was reported as being clean on May 2. Schaefer explained that the matter is in hands of the Nevada commission, because the rematch is to be held in Las Vegas. Ring's Lem Satterfield spoke to Kizer after that conference call, and he said he was told by Peterson's counsel that the positive test came from the usage of testosterone pellets, and that the fighter acknowledged using them, a banned substance in Las Vegas, before the December bout with Khan. Kizer said that could well be grounds for having the win overturned. ESPN's Dan Rafael reported that Peterson's attorney will argue to Kizer and company that the positive came as a result of being treated for an undisclosed medical situation.

On the call, Schaefer, who says as of now Khan is still training and the fight is on, expressed annoyance that he wasn't told initially that Peterson tested positive.

The president of VADA, ex chief ringside physician of the Nevada Commission Margaret Goodman, released a statement in response to the Schaefer call.



It is important for VADA to carry out its mission consistent with respect for the privacy of the athletes who are tested.

VADA notified Lamont Peterson and his attorney, Jeff Fried, immediately after Mr. Peterson’s “A” sample tested positive.

VADA felt that it would be inappropriate for it to notify third parties of the positive test result at that time because there had been no confirmation of it.

It appears as though Mr. Peterson and Mr. Fried also chose not to notify third parties at that time in the hope that Mr. Peterson’s “B” sample would test negative.

As soon as Mr. Peterson’s “B” sample tested positive, VADA notified Mr. Peterson, Mr. Fried, and the Nevada State Athletic Commission.





Neither Golden Boy Promotions nor HBO was a signatory to the VADA contract.

One wrinkle some folks find curious is that it is believed that Team Peterson pushed hard for strict testing on Khan; his strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza has been accused, mostly in whispered tones, of illegally aiding his client. Welterweight champ Paul Malignaggi, who has been quite vocal about what he believes is widespread use of PEDs in the sport, spoke on the matter to me: "It is tough to judge until all the proper info is made public. It seems strange as Lamont was the one who wanted the random tests...so no opinion until more info is public."

Check back for reaction from the Notorious VIC, Victor Conte, the former PED bad-boy who has redesigned himself into a primary agent of cleaning up sports of illegal doping.

Sechew Powell was doing the smart thing, staying in the gym, staying in shape, ready for that call that often comes, from a promoter looking to replace an injured participant. Four days ago, the 26-4 lefty from Flatbush, Brooklyn picked up his phone, heard that Joel Julio was out against Gabriel Rosado on the June 1 card Sands (PA) event which will run on NBC Sports Network, the cable cousin of NBC. He didn't deliberate. I'll take it, he said. Foe Rosado has a ho-hum record, at 19-5, but the 25-year-old Philly fighter is on a mini-tear. A winner of five straight, with his last outing a TKO5 victory over Jesus Soto-Karass on the January NBCSN event, Rosado is likely the favorite going into the reset match. Not in Powell's mind, though. "I don't see where I'll have problems with him," the 32 year-old nicknamed "Iron Horse" told me. "I feel good about him not seeing the final bell."

Those are tall words; two of Rosado's losses came in his first eight fights, before he was properly managed, and he has been stopped just once, by Alfredo Angulo in 2009. You have to like Powell's attitude here. "Fights are always being made, so if you stay ready, you won't have to get ready," he told me.

You figure Powell is at max motivation here; a win would mean he can more so choose his options, rather than be the guy staying ready for a last-minute step-in gig. Readers, who do you like in the Powell-Rosado fight?

He moved from NYC to LA two years ago, but we at NYFightBlog still claim Peter "Kid Chocolate" Quillin (26-0, 20 KOs) as one of our own, especially since he maintains an apartment here, he's on the cusp of the big fights and the acclaim and the earnings which drove him to keep on keeping on in NYC even when on the edge of homelessness, even when he didn't have enough money buy off the McDonald's dollar menu, and had too much pride to ask a friend for a handout.

A win on June 2 over four-time world light middleweight champion Ronald "Winky" Wright (51-5-1, 25 KOs) will get the 28 year-old to title-shot territory...and we will applaud when that happens. He's yet another one saved by boxing. Quillin quite likely would have followed in the wrong footsteps if he stayed in Michigan, and ended up in jail or worse yet, a young corpse. We figure the middleweight to get the better of Wright, no slouch at 40, but likely to be rusty after two years off, and back-to-back UD12 losses, to Bernard Hopkins (in 2007) and Paul Williams (on April 11, 2009). Quillin has Hollywood charisma and intensity; I could EASILY see him making a leap from the ring to TV, movies, commercials, etc. Put him on your watch list if he isn't already.

Quillin-Wright is the 10-round Showtime co-feature at Home Depot Center in Carson, California.

Wright has never been stopped in 57 pro bouts, fighting world-class opponents such as Felix Trinidad (WDEC12), Shane Mosley (DEC12 twice), Bernard Hopkins (LDEC12), Paul Williams (LDEC12), Fernando Vargas (LDEC12) and Jermain Taylor (D12). All of Wright's five losses have been to world champions.

"This is my first fight on Showtime and it's a great opportunity for me to showcase my talents," Quillin said. "The reason I make so many sacrifices and work so hard is to be world middleweight champion. Defeating 'Winky' will get me closer and becoming the first to knock him out is motivating. I also want revenge for 'Winky' beating one of my favorite fighters, Felix Trinidad."

At risk for Quillin is a future title shot against one of the current world champions - Felix Sturm (WBA Super), Gennady Golovkin (WBA Regular), Daniel Geale (IBF), Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (WBC) and Dmitry Pirog (WBO) - and ultimately the coveted showdown with the universally recognized 160-pound champion, Sergio Martinez.

Quillin, the IBF #6 rated middleweight, could also be in line to fight one of the other top contenders such as Mathew Macklin or Andy Lee - a fight in NYC would be huge for Manhattan resident "Kid Chocolate" vs. either Irishman - or possibly former world champion Jermain Taylor. Lee, who passed on an opportunity to fight Quillin back on March 17 (St. Patrick's Day) at The Theater in Madison Square Garden, challenges Chavez on June 9.

None of the aforementioned potential fights will happen, of course, unless Quilln gets past the ageless Wright, whose peek-a-boo defensive style has caused nightmares for many opponents.

"I go to Wild Card Gym to work and with my strength-and-conditioning coach, Brad Bose, at his Anatomi Gym," Quillin spoke about being a professional boxer on the brink of a world title fight. "That's all I do when I'm training for a fight. I don't really do too much more between fights because boxing is my job, my career. My father, Pedro, and little brother, Cedric, have been here with me in LA giving me added motivation. My time is coming!"

Quillin has a powerful team behind him: promoter Golden Boy Promotions, co-managers John Seip and Jim McDevitt, new advisor Al Haymon, and trainers Freddie Roach and Eric Brown. They can get him to the Promised Land in boxing, but all of the rest is squarely up to "Kid Chocolate," starting June 2nd with "Winky."

For more information about Peter "Kid Chocolate" Quillin go online to www.TheKidChocolate.com or follow him on Twitter @/Kid Chocolate.