However you feel about P.E.D use in boxing, the fact of the matter is this sport has very strick guidelines and testing. Yet, amid all these rules and regulations, there is no rules against the hurling of accusations. Victor Ortiz came face-to-face with this point when Andre Berto took to Twitter to lob accusatory remarks concerning his loss to Ortiz. He stated:
“Let me clear the air now,” Berto wrote over several tweets (posts have been cleaned up for grammar). “You’re right. There is a reason why Ortiz had so much energy, a reason he could take my heavy shots and keep ticking. And there is a reason why he came into the ring [at] 165 pounds.
"I know people close to him and his camp, and I know exactly [what] he was taking," the tweet continued. "It wasn't Flintstone vitamins! But it is what it is. I should [have] beat him anyway, but it wasn't me that night. Ortiz wasn't him either.”
Berto's claims swept the Web and reactions varied from calling him a sore loser to allegations of defamation to the unprintable. In what seemed to be acknowledgment of the seriousness of his remarks, Berto later tweeted,
“Wow, why does everyone’s mind go straight to PEDs? Calm down everyone. I was just talking about Ortiz eating his spinach like Popeye.”
As Maria Burns Ortiz commented on Fox News, we now live in an era where implications and innuendo too often become blurred with facts, turning into the kind of unconfirmed footnotes that follow an athlete through his career. When asked about the online statements Ortiz commented,
“Bottom line, I'll take any blood tests necessary and body tissue test to silence anyone,” he wrote.
Here's the thing, unless Ortiz actually fails these tests, all we have is speculation, at best. As we have seen with cyclist Lance Armstrong, speculation can go a long way, but these athletes shouldn't have to worry about silencing their critics. What Berto did was undeniably immature and reckless. Because he was unable to defend his title in the ring, he lashed out as many children might do after being embarrassed. To force Ortiz to defend his reputation outside of the ring was unfair and probably more damaging to Berto's career than Ortiz's.
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