America at Large: In the entire recorded history of boxing, only three middleweight champions - Bob Fitzsimmons (1897), Roy Jones Jnr (2003), and James Toney (2005) - have ascended to a world heavyweight title.
Two of them did it by beating John Ruiz. Ruiz could shortly own another niche in the record book, as the only heavyweight champion to twice reclaim his title without lacing on a glove. Should reports that Toney's post-fight drug test revealed the presence of the anabolic steroid nandralone prove true, the boxer would be stripped of the World Boxing Association championship he won on April 30th, and the title would revert to Ruiz.
Neither the New York State Athletic Commission, which administered the drug test, nor the WBA have confirmed the finding. Toney's Los Angeles-based attorney Nicholas Khan confirmed the new champion's promoters had been informed Toney had "tested positive for a banned substance that is not a narcotic".
Word of the drugs test surfaced just a day after Ruiz had ended a nine-day "retirement". Bitterly disappointed with the unanimous decision rendered by the judges (the scoring was abetted by a two-point swing in the seventh round, in which referee Steve Smoger credited Toney with a knockdown, even though he had plainly stepped on Ruiz's foot), Ruiz had bade farewell to boxing. Given a week to reconsider, he realised in the absence of an amended announcement he might be dropped from the rankings of the world sanctioning bodies, and un-retired on Monday.
"Believe it or not, the two things were not connected," said Ruiz' attorney Anthony Cardinale. Cardinale said he had begun receiving phone calls about Toney's drugs test a few hours after Ruiz' announcement, and had contacted New York commission chairman Ron Scott Stevens. Citing confidentiality requirements, Stevens declined to comment, but his response to Cardinale may have been telling: "You'll hear something by the end of the week."
The Ruiz camp may not have been entirely surprised. A month before the fight, Cardinale and manager Norman Stone had suggested to Stevens Toney's antagonistic behaviour at a pre-fight press conference might have been consistent with a man in the throes of 'roid rage, and urged the commission to be diligent in its post-fight drug test procedures. Toney's trainer, Steve Collins' long-time mentor Freddie Roach, seemed disappointed by the news. The 2003 trainer of the year had fulfilled a dream in guiding Toney to the heavyweight championship. Recalling Toney's corpulent physique, Roach noted, "He sure as hell didn't look like a guy on steroids - unless steroids make you fat." Toney, who weighed 157 lbs when he upset Michael Nunn to win the International Boxing Federation middleweight title in 1991, scaled in at a career-high 233 lbs for the Ruiz fight. Roach insisted he would never have allowed one of his fighters to bulk up chemically.
"I don't like that stuff at all," said Roach. "But I don't know what they might have given him to treat that biceps injury." After Toney tore a muscle in his September 2004 fight against Rydell Booker, the injury did heal with alacrity, and it seems possible residue from a steroid-based treatment might have remained in his system. Since Khan also suggested the same source, indications are Toney's camp is prepared to rely on this explanation. "James has sworn up and down he hasn't taken anything," said Khan. "I think it's patently obvious by looking at his body he wasn't taking steroids, but it's possible he may have been prescribed something he didn't know was illegal." Toney's physician, Dr Mark Gordon, is reportedly turning over the records of Toney's treatment to the NYSAC.
Ironically, two months before the Ruiz fight, Toney, participating in an online chat for a boxing website, was asked specifically about steroid use in boxing. He replied while he believed some boxers used them, the regulatory bodies did a good job of keeping steroids from the fight game through drug testing.
The WBA is reportedly awaiting the result of the test on Toney's B sample. Should that also reveal steroids, the organisation's rules are unambiguous. Rule 18.23-4 states: "If the challenger wins the championship fight and his anti-drug test is positive, and the losing champion has a negative result, then the champion shall retain his title in spite of the loss, and the challenger shall be disqualified and shall not box for the title from the World Boxing Association during the next two years, and only after presentation of medical evidence that he has been rehabilitated."
Although a WBA suspension would affect only participation in title fights, New York would also likely suspend the boxer, a punishment that would be honoured in other jurisdictions. A suspension would not bode well for Toney's future. He is 36 and has fought just twice while suffering major injuries in the past two years.
Toney wouldn't be the first heavyweight champion to lose his title over a drug test. In 1995 South African Francois Botha was stripped of the International Boxing Federation title when he tested positive for steroids after his fight against Germany's Axel Schultz. Fernando Vargas tested positive for steroids in the aftermath of his light-middleweight unification bout against Oscar De La Hoya three years ago. Since De La Hoya won, the result remained undisturbed, but Vargas was suspended by the Nevada commission.
Badly outclassed by Jones in their 2003 bout, Ruiz reclaimed his title by winning an "interim" version with a points decision over Hasim Rahman, which was elevated to world championship stature when Jones elected to return to the light-heavyweight ranks without defending the WBA title. This time he could regain the belt without even breaking a sweat.
