WBC super featherweight champion Oscar Valdez tested positive for a banned substance known as phentermine. However, he will not face any punishment from the WBC and his upcoming fight against Robson Conceicao will not be postponed. WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman defended the commission’s decision by saying phentermine “is not a performance-enhancing drug.”
“It is simple, this is not a performance-enhancing drug,” Sulaiman told ESPN.
“It is like if you take three Red Bulls. In the anti-doping world, there are hundreds of substances. … If you go to a 7-Eleven and you steal a candy bar, you stole, it’s illegal. But that is different from robbing a bank with guns and pistols that will give you seven years in jail. Valdez will have absolutely no advantage and the challenger will have no risk.”
Valdez has taken things a step further. He has claimed that he never used the weight loss drug.
“I’ve never done it, I’ve always been very respectful for the anti-doping rules ever since I was an amateur Olympian and now as a professional,” Valdez told ESPN.
“Ever since I became a world champion in 2016 I’ve been tested for more than 30 times. I insisted [enrolling] on the VADA testing myself for the Robson Conceicao fight and put that into my contract.”
BALCO Founder Victor Conte is unable to speak to Valdez’s use of the drug, but he firmly believes that it is more than a harmless weight loss drug.
“It is very powerful. It is like methamphetamine,” he explained.
“It accelerates your heart rate. It gives you energy. It gives you endurance. It gives you stamina. It makes it easier to breathe. Your training time to exhaustion would be much longer.”
Still, Valdez appears determined to fight the title challenger on September 10 without interruption.
