Professor Chuck Marbry
BOBBY GUNN IS LINEAR WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT “BARE KNUCKLE” BOXING CHAMPION
Charlotte, NC– On August 5th in Arizona, former cruiserweight champ Bobby Gunn, an American of Irish descent, knocked out Rich Steward in the third round in the first bare knuckle boxing match (that I know of) since 1889, and supposedly winning the vacant world heavyweight bare-knuckle championship, last held by the great John L. Sullivan himself.
ANOTHER IRISHMAN TO FOLLOW THE GREAT JOHN L’S PATH
Then I’m scanning the boxing news and I see that middleweight Jimmy Holmes will be training in Belfast, New York, from August 30th through September 4th, using the same training barns, the same training methods laid out by Sullivan’s trainer, William Muldoon, when Muldoon trained Sullivan in 1889 for the last bare-knuckle world title fight with Jake Kilrain. This is supposed to be authentic down to Holmes sleeping in the barns and eating the same strict meals as Sullivan did. The Professor doesn’t know if this is a dream, or if I have actually found the time-space continuum, call it “Old School” heaven!
BRIT SHOULD BE ARRESTED FOR BULL S*ITTING PUBLIC!
Anyway, I have been working on solving a mystery since July 2 of this year. How could David Haye have the gall to continually shoot off his mouth and even print t-shirts picturing himself holding the severed heads of the brothers Klitschko (Wladmir & Vitali), stoop to giving the excuse of a broken little toe after losing to a left jab?
“THE GHOST” HAS GHOSTLY SHOULDER PROBLEMS
Then Robert Guerreo pulls out of a fight, citing a shoulder injury. Victor Ortiz missed a day or two of training due to an injured back. In a fight with Vitali (the fighting brother according to writer/talk show host Pedro Fernandez) Odlanier Solis, an overweight Cuban refugeee, has his right knee buckle under him, and then the fight is over as he claims the knee was able to support him at all. So, recently we have broken toes, injured shoulders, injured backs, injured knees, and an increase in other joint, hand and wrist injuries. After almost two months investigation, I have come to the conclusion that the problem most likely lies with one of two things.
SO WHO’S TO BLAME HERE?
The first, and least likely, is that really was something otherworldly happen in Area 54 near Las Vegas, NV, or Roswell, New Mexico, and it has affected the joints, tendons, ligaments and muscles of boxers. If you think about it, many of the artists renderings of the eyewitness accounts do look like fighters we have known.
REMEMBERING THE MURDERER CHRIS BENOIT & STEROIDS IN BOXING
The second, and more probable, and what got me thinking on this was Pedro, when he let out he was working on a expose on Chris Benoit and the supposed WWE’s “Wellness” policy on steroids that will come out Tuesday. Just how wide spread the use of steroids, or performance enhancing drugs (PEDS) are in boxing is a matter of conjecture. It is a matter of conjecture because we currently have no unified Federal Boxing Commission or oversight, no standardization for anything within boxing. The individual commissions don’t have to test fighters for PEDS, and the ones that do don’t all test for the same ones, or don’t use standardized tests. Plus, the commissions that do test usually like to go the cheapest route, and the steroid guys are always two steps ahead of that.
Manny Pacquiao: Suspected But Never Caught
WHO HAS BEEN CAUGHT ‘ROIDING IN BOXING?
However, although we don’t know how wide spread the use of PEDS in boxing MIGHT be, we do know of some high profile fighters who have had their hands caught in the PED “cookie jar” ; Mariano Carrera, Orlando Salido, Frans Botha, Roy Jones Jr., Richard Hall, Fernando Vargas, James Toney, and Shane “The Balco Lab King” Mosley quickly come to mind.
THE DRUGS THAT BOXERS HAVE BEEN CAUGHT USING
Now granted, they all pled innocent. They didn’t know. Their Doctor gave it to them for an injury. Their trainer mixed them in with their vitamins. The tooth fairy slipped them a mickey. Roy Jones Jr. tested positive for “Andro”-Androsterone. This is used for strength, added muscle mass, and to shorten recovery time. Shane Mosley tested positive for “THG”-Tetrahydrogestrinone, the then “undetectable” steroid, used for strength and muscle mass. Fernando Vargas tested positive for Winstrol, used for lean muscle and endurance. James Toney tested positive for “Deca”- Deca-Durabolin, used for mass (it worked) and to enhance recovery time. Another popular PED is called “cheque drops” or Mibolerone. This PED increases aggression and is very popular with MMA, UFC, ect., as well as some boxers. According to Thomas O’Connor M.D. a PED expert, “For boxers, it is rumored that one legendary pro who already sported an attitude of a pit bull used this [cheque drops] right before a major fight, where he mistook his opponents ear for a Big Mac.” (Chemical Enhancement, The Top 5 Best Steroids For Raw Power by The Anabolic Doc, Thomas O’Connor, M.D.; www.musculardevelopment.com)
AND THEN THERE ARE THE SIDE EFFECTS
According to my research, PEDS can increase the risk of tendon, ligament, and muscle injury by at least 35%. In addition, PEDS have been proven to cause osteonecrosis or bone death and brittleness in the hips, knees, and shoulders. (Study by Johns Hopkins University Hospital) And while PEDS will not give you skills, they can give you extra strength and stamina, resistance, speed, power and most importantly in boxing, quicker recovery time.
THE OLD STYLE STEROIDS BAD FOR BOXERS, NOT THE DESIGNER STEROIDS
Steroids, PEDS in boxing are generally overlooked because the overwhelming opinion is that they really don’t help a boxer all that much, because added muscle mass can decrease effectiveness, change punching dynamics, burns more glycogen (Blood sugars used for energy) uses more oxygen and increases fatigue. Also, PEDS are over looked because of the afore mentioned lack of a unified national boxing commission, as well as the fact that boxing already has somewhat of a “seedy” reputation and is often seen as corrupt anyway because of “Fistic Prostitution” as Pedro says. Yet look at the fighters we do know who have tried them. And given the increase of shoulder, back, knee, hand, wrist, and broken toe injuries, and the choices of the causes being fallout from Roswell, or perhaps PEDS. The Professor says, mystery solved. Broken toes, hurt shoulders and all are caused by aliens.
Professor Chuck Marbry