Gabriel Montoya: Andre Berto, Lamont Peterson, Manny Pacquiao & the PED Debate

Exclusive Interview by Marc Anthony

“We are in a period of education right now. I think fans need to understand that…It’s a boxing issue. A health and safety issue.”-Gabriel Montoya

Gabriel Montoya, boxing’s media personality, has never been shy to express his views and thoughts on the current boxing scene. With a passion for his craft he has, at times, fueled debate from fans and writers alike. He wears many hats from Writer and Co-Host at Maxboxing.com and Co-Host at “Leave it in the Ring Radio Show” to working in the entertainment field.

The current landscape of sports is that science is making our athletes enjoy longer careers, better physical prowess and record breaking moments. Yet there is a dark side to sports, the one that Gabriel wishes people would wake up to and educate themselves on. The subject of Performance Enhancing Drugs also known as “PEDs,” which with modern science keeps getting more and more sophisticated. Gabriel has been in the forefront of not only breaking stories in regards to the PED issue but also an advocate of better testing, more awareness and the safety of our athletes for over two years.

Gabriel Montoya sits with RSR to talk about the dark side of PEDs and a call to everyone, writer and fan alike: Get educated on the subject.

MA: What can you do to avoid other news sources from stealing your breaking news reports and using it as their own?

I look at people claiming my work much the way I look at people taking PEDs (Performance Enhancing Drugs) when they fight. Sure, you can claim the work as yours but deep down inside you know the truth. And who would want to win or claim your work was first that way? I wouldn’t…

MA: Why does boxing need to clean up on PEDs?

It’s all about health and safety. There are some people who will criticize me that I didn’t care about this issue before and I have to be honest…nobody did. But when Floyd brought it up, it was something kind of new and I think we have gone through waves of education and self- realization where there are a lot of myths about PEDs , about steroids and the difference between what those two things are. I have come around to knowing about it and know I am sharing what I have learned.

Ultimately, what it comes down to is: combat sport’s is the most dangerous sport there is. The object it to hurt the other guy, damage his body until he cannot continue or knock him unconscious. That’s the goal. It needs to be a level playing field. We need to know that everybody is not doing drugs. Maybe you get into legalization and regulation but that is a whole other issue. For right now, I think this last month has shown us. We need it and need it in a uniform manner with all of the commissions. We have the ABC and every State Commission; every state has a different rule. Why is that? Why can’t we get it together and just be a sport? It doesn’t have to be a monopoly of one promoter but just the rules… can’t we do that at least? I think it’s just needed for the safety and the health of the fighters, bottom line.

MA: How do you see the landscape of no PEDs in boxing?

I am not a total historian like a Bert Sugar or even like a Doug Fischer, who I consider to be a good historian. But I imagine like the saying: “if you ain’t cheating you ain’t trying,” there has to be a saying for some reason in all sports. But when it comes to advanced science and all those things it’s hard to tell how far it goes back. But I think the old fighters train very well. Their nutrition was a bit more barbaric back then than today but I don’t think it would change all that much. I don’t foresee it being that much different if we got rid of PEDs. I don’t think every fighter is dirty. I think fighters need to fight more often and fight like once every six months. I think that’s where the fights suffer the most. I don’t think we will notice it that much to be honest.

MA: During training you might get injured and use them to help through an injury. Are you okay with that or PEDs should be completely out of sports?

That’s a tricky issue. I generally would call that as recuperation. Although with something like testosterone, it will make you stronger. I am not sure it increases power, either you have it or you don’t. But technique would help you generate more.

The average person has a 1:1 (T/E) ratio but let’s say fighter ‘A” doesn’t have anything in him. He is a 1:1 (T/E) ratio the other guy has something in him. He has four times the amount of testosterone, meaning he is a 4:1 (T/E) ratio. He stronger, he recuperates faster. Maybe in a fight he comes back a little better. That’s an advantage. When a guys tired and not on something he gets slow. His defense gets weak and the other guy starts hitting him more. The other guy is not getting tired and you are? That’s a huge and dangerous advantage. It’s just something that shouldn’t be in this sport.

Do I believe in a good supplementation like good vitamins? Absolutely! I take them myself. I work out, I spar and I train. You have to do the right things and it has to be approved. I would encourage fighters to get educated on what they are taking. I think too often a fighter will say “I need an edge” and someone will give them something and he gets in a bad situation potentially. So it has its place, I am not a hardliner. Take a (TUE) therapeutic use exemption, for example: it’s a real delicate case by case situation.

MA: How did you and Victor Conte meet up?

The first time I meet Victor was after the Sydorenko fight for Nonito Donaire…I actually met him on the radio before, we had him on Leave it in the Ring a few years back, like one of my first shows with them. So over two years ago is my guess, kind of in the beginning when I first started getting very interested in PEDs? But we met in person after the fight.

Some people think that Victor is my only source of information but I talk to a lot of people.

A lot of people that I don’t mention that are kind of like “do not mention me”. Victor is like the least fearful person on the planet. Very wide open and honest guy, he doesn’t mind that I mention him but other people do. I want that clear I am not a puppet for Victor Conte, I am not a puppet for Margaret Goodman, whom I actually never met in person. I only talked to her on the phone. I am only interested in the sport of boxing getting better. Anybody that knows me knows that I am no one’s puppet.

MA: You are one of the few people who ask hard questions, yet you get demonized by some for it.

It is weird man. I didn’t expect any of this. I kind of just wanted to go to the fights and I wrote my first article just because. Those guys that think I am looking for my fifteen minutes of fame? I didn’t submit any articles to the Boxing Writers Association Awards this year. Not one article, you have to submit your own to get put up for an award. That’s how uninterested I am in praise. I just want to do good work. My work should speak for itself and we just go from there.

MA: You do have an ongoing project with this?

It’s a drug war on many fronts. People kind of laugh when I say drug war, nah, it’s a drug war. Just like the American Drug war if you think of it in those terms. It’s a multibillion dollar industry fighting that war and perpetuating that war. It’s kind of how I look at this sports drug war and it’s not just combat sports but all sports. For instance carbon isotope ratio testing for 12 years it has existed. It catches synthetic testosterone…look at Alistair Overeem, Lamont Peterson with his issue. Would anyone disagree that testosterone is something that athlete’s don’t take? I don’t think so. It’s kind of obvious it’s the drug of choice right?

Why wouldn’t you use carbon isotope ratio testing to make sure that guys didn’t have drugs in their system? Instead we use the general T/E ratio of urine tests. Which unless the guy is an absolute idiot, you can stay under that. Nevada its 6:1, almost 6 times greater than you would normally produce. It’s a bit of an advantage if you stay under that 6:1.

Why is it that the commissions only want to do the test that is easily beatable? Why don’t they want to do the one that would just straight catch you? And why do they keep pushing for HGH testing? I don’t think it’s as big of a problem as people think it is. You don’t just take HGH on its own; you take it in conjunction with other things. You kind of metaphorically sprinkle it on top of your drug sundae. You take other things and you take HGH to kind of keep what you gained from those other things. That’s what it’s for. So, why are they going after that? Why not go after drugs instead of looking for red flags? In my opinion, and it’s just my opinion. it’s just like the drug war. There is more money in pretending to chase the drugs then there is in actually finding them.

MA: Do you think the change would come if something tragic happens and it’s because of PED use?

It’s sad to say but yes. If somebody got killed and the other guy got popped, yes. I am not hoping for it. What I hope is other writers educate themselves; learn the landscape and the culture of anti-doping so they know what they are talking about. And understand it’s not just a “hot” war to just catch cheaters.

In trying to get the right tests but a little bit of cold war going on too. And that battle between who we are going to take VADA or use USADA all that stuff. There is definitely a cold war going on. All these guys need to pick up the mantel and start attacking this. I can’t believe I wrote about Wright vs. Quillin on how they threw away drug samples and not one major wrote about it. These guys are like willful ignorance the major media. That’s why I like working for Maxboxing.com and Boxingscene.com, those guys hired me but I am like an independent contractor. I write what I want to write and I don’t give a shit about traffic.

If people want to read the truth than read my articles if you don’t then don’t read them. That’s basically it. I have directed and produced. Not once did I ever produce a project or picked a project and went “this is going to sell a lot”. I always told stories, and I continue too, that interest me that I want to tell. That’s what it’s all about.

MA: You are going get people who disagree but you will get people talking which is a great thing.

That’s a great thing. We are in a period of education right now. I think fans need to understand that. The beginning started with Floyd trying to get Manny to test and for too long it was about them. After I kind of had my thing with Floyd I kind of wondered why he doesn’t want to talk to me about this. I realized that it’s a separate issue and will go in circles for all time if we keep making it a Manny vs. Floyd issue. It’s a boxing issue. A health and safety issue.

MA: It’s pretty scary how sophisticated the drugs get. I would hate to see it get to the point where it’s too dangerous.

Yeah, you know what’s scary? We are heading towards gene doping at this point. And I am not even kidding. That’s the next level. You can Google it and it does exist or at least they are trying towards it. We are going to hit a point where it’s not” take the test”, it will be take the genetic scan. .

MA: Technology is crazy

It really is and people thought twitter was crazy (laughter).