Larry O handed doping ban

[Jeff Thomas]

All I know is I'm pretty much guaranteed a place in 2014 heavyweight prizefighter I just need a bit of support.....

[Wales]

Ref Macho....

I wrote it drunk late one night in a mates house and he's heavily into the gym and reads muscle talk. He said "this guy here is a pro boxer too" I looked and it was Larry. I then went on boxrec because of the amount of posters on here who often say mosley shouldve been banned for life or whatever (you get the idea) and posted the topic. I seem to remember a few people responding quite quickly and quite strongly - tony bellew may have been one (although his werent threatening I think he said "bit of a naughty statement that mate").

Anyway, got up Saturday morning, didn’t really remember posting it, logged in and I had about 8 PMs then an unnamed person who has my number phoned to say I'd better take it down cos otherwise I'd get people at my door, I said "what, find me in the stix in wales all the way form london" he said "just take it down mate!"
It was up for prob 24hrs.

[Wales]

From LAW on 14th May 2008

The following is a warning which has been issued to you by an administrator or moderator of this site.
Quote:
Warning 1 - Potentially defamatory comments about a boxer using illegal substances.

[Wales]

PM I sent to Tony Bellew the next day (not sure if we exchanged words the ngiht before)

I feel the need to drop you a PM and apologise for last night. I'd had too much to drink and after reading larrys posts on muscle talk about him taking steroids I felt aggrieved. To be honest, now im sober I realise its prior to his pro career (although only by a few months - but prior none the less). I did text law and poncey after posting asking them to remove it (hence the thread was deleted), as its both libelous <sp> and a deformation of larrys character, daft thing is, as a boxer and poster I actually quite like him.

Anyway, thought i'd PM you as you posted on the thread and I do feel the need to apologise as it was out of character and quite frankly cos I was pissed.

no hard feelings?

[Poncey]

Yeah, I remember you were pissed and even had texts from you at 3am in the morning.

I'll speak to the Boss to see about a reversal.

[jessi]

he had zero skill just brute strengh & it turns out that was due to cheating

whats the point ? he should be made to return ALL his purses

Shut up mate, Larry was a body builder long before a boxer, don't comment about what you don't know to much about.

[Final round]

Reading between the lines with Warmachine

"power punching is very complicated and involves alot of factors. (Anabolic Steroids, HGH and EPO to name a few!!) I agree that punchers are born then* made as I have always had a hard punch from when I was in school but when I learnt proper technique, my punch became so much more powerful. Also despite my size I can run very fast and that means i am mainly fast twitch muscle fibers which helps with explosiveness"

http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f ... 2#p2686552

"why does everyone think mayweather is not on stuff? let me remind people of a certain marion jones who passed about 50 tests and got caught out through her emails. she never failed a test because she was using designer stuff that the testers didnt know about. mayweather has the money to get this sort of help so if he is on this stuff then he doesn't have to worry about tests cause they will never catch him. I am almost certain mayweather and pacman is on stuff." (Because I sure am, every fuckin thing I can get my hands on!!)
http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f ... 2#p2201602

What a cheating fornicating twat.

[Bricks]

What is Larry's username on here? Cheers.

Think it was gigantor or something.....

In all seriousness I've never being tested. I was with mike Gomez when he was tested before the burns fight, and I recall someone else being tested too but can't think who it was...

Larry is a nice guy- this is a terrible failing on his part, but obviously he felt it was required to be competitive, I wouldn't be surprised if its pretty rife unfortunately.

It is massively common in MMA

Agree about MMA.

You'd know about it if it was rife in boxing here, mate. Going back to when I did a bit and had pals who were boxing to a high level, none of them would have known where to start when it came to PEDs. That's guaranteed. Times may have changed but I don't think it is a (big) problem in domestic licensed boxing. I mean, let's be honest, if I put all the active British heavies in a line (including Larry) and asked 100 people to write down which one they thought took steroids, I'm guessing Larry, on looks alone, would be a hands down winner. However, given the fact the testing protocols are shit, we don't know for certain.

Well it is obligatory in MMA circles. That is a fact from someone who has been in the dressing room before a cage event countless times and trained in these circles for years. The sheer demands of multi discipline training and recovery are such in MMA i would speculate it is impossible to compete in at at a decent level without PEDs and i have not known a single competitor in the UK who wasnt on them.

In boxing its more a grey area. Its clear in my mind there were many british boxers in the 1980s who used either recreational drugs or less so steroids. In this day and age where legal sports nutrition is so prevalent and there is more scrutiny than before i beleive it is fairly rare in british boxing.

Larry O is a gentleman who always fought with courage and effort. So did he cheat? well undoubtedly amongst the list of steroids and PEDS he took there are those which enhance muscle mass, strength and than also things like EPO which would have increased his red blood cell count and thus his ability to hold oxygen. Larry was really taking his life in his own hands using EPO ....140lb tour de france athletes with expert 24/7 doctors administering this stuff to them have died from using it. It is a spectacularly dangerous thing. The mix of things he used is very interesting, in that on the one hand he has these mass bulking agents and the other the cardio enhancing things, and the growth hormone which can be used for either....but evidently it escaped his handlers that a 260lb man should cut down weight to enhance his stamina/endurance best.

Sad news but a 4 year ban is very harsh. Larry competed at HW where there are often vast natural disparities in weight but these are sometimes countered by other factors.

It is when you have say anyone below crusier and especially the lighter to middleweight weights that an athlete using illegal substances is gettin the most p4p benefit and the cheating is more obvious and dangerous. given how much people are already cutting drying etc...so for example in a clash between a 140lber who is using and cuts drains etc against one who doesnt.......you will have on figt night potentially a roided up 160lber versus a 145 lb non user. Dangerous.

[allahsnackbar]

big test of character now for larry to see if he has the balls to come on here and explain himself

some on here should also have a look at themselves and be realistic about what they post in future. it wasn't long ago that olubamiwo was being touted as the best in britain on this board and I can find the posts if people don't believe me.

[Deserter]

Well it is obligatory in MMA circles. That is a fact from someone who has been in the dressing room before a cage event countless times and trained in these circles for years. The sheer demands of multi discipline training and recovery are such in MMA i would speculate it is impossible to compete in at at a decent level without PEDs and i have not known a single competitor in the UK who wasnt on them.

In boxing its more a grey area. Its clear in my mind there were many british boxers in the 1980s who used either recreational drugs or less so steroids. In this day and age where legal sports nutrition is so prevalent and there is more scrutiny than before i beleive it is fairly rare in british boxing.

Larry O is a gentleman who always fought with courage and effort. So did he cheat? well undoubtedly amongst the list of steroids and PEDS he took there are those which enhance muscle mass, strength and than also things like EPO which would have increased his red blood cell count and thus his ability to hold oxygen. Larry was really taking his life in his own hands using EPO ....140lb tour de france athletes with expert 24/7 doctors administering this stuff to them have died from using it. It is a spectacularly dangerous thing. The mix of things he used is very interesting, in that on the one hand he has these mass bulking agents and the other the cardio enhancing things, and the growth hormone which can be used for either....but evidently it escaped his handlers that a 260lb man should cut down weight to enhance his stamina/endurance best.

Sad news but a 4 year ban is very harsh. Larry competed at HW where there are often vast natural disparities in weight but these are sometimes countered by other factors.

It is when you have say anyone below crusier and especially the lighter to middleweight weights that an athlete using illegal substances is gettin the most p4p benefit and the cheating is more obvious and dangerous. given how much people are already cutting drying etc...so for example in a clash between a 140lber who is using and cuts drains etc against one who doesnt.......you will have on figt night potentially a roided up 160lber versus a 145 lb non user. Dangerous.

Thanks fella. Good, thought-provoking post

[APaterson]

Christ, that's terrible. Hope this can be appealed for the big man's sake. We're with you, Larry.

Are you being serious?

[jameswilson]

Well it is obligatory in MMA circles. That is a fact from someone who has been in the dressing room before a cage event countless times and trained in these circles for years. The sheer demands of multi discipline training and recovery are such in MMA i would speculate it is impossible to compete in at at a decent level without PEDs and i have not known a single competitor in the UK who wasnt on them.

In boxing its more a grey area. Its clear in my mind there were many british boxers in the 1980s who used either recreational drugs or less so steroids. In this day and age where legal sports nutrition is so prevalent and there is more scrutiny than before i beleive it is fairly rare in british boxing.

Larry O is a gentleman who always fought with courage and effort. So did he cheat? well undoubtedly amongst the list of steroids and PEDS he took there are those which enhance muscle mass, strength and than also things like EPO which would have increased his red blood cell count and thus his ability to hold oxygen. Larry was really taking his life in his own hands using EPO ....140lb tour de france athletes with expert 24/7 doctors administering this stuff to them have died from using it. It is a spectacularly dangerous thing. The mix of things he used is very interesting, in that on the one hand he has these mass bulking agents and the other the cardio enhancing things, and the growth hormone which can be used for either....but evidently it escaped his handlers that a 260lb man should cut down weight to enhance his stamina/endurance best.

Sad news but a 4 year ban is very harsh. Larry competed at HW where there are often vast natural disparities in weight but these are sometimes countered by other factors.

It is when you have say anyone below crusier and especially the lighter to middleweight weights that an athlete using illegal substances is gettin the most p4p benefit and the cheating is more obvious and dangerous. given how much people are already cutting drying etc...so for example in a clash between a 140lber who is using and cuts drains etc against one who doesnt.......you will have on figt night potentially a roided up 160lber versus a 145 lb non user. Dangerous.

That's very thought provoking. In my teenage years I swam at national level and never knew anyone there who even said to me 'you ever thought of using this stuff' and I was tested a few times after big races there. And obviously I'v mentioned rugby earlier on, and like I say this was rugby at University level.

Only person I have ever met who I knew was on gear was a guy I did Army Officer selection with. He did seem to be the front runner at that selection in terms of endurance, and I found out from him a few months later that although he made it through he tested positive for steroids so they didn't take him on. I asked him if he was actually on it and he said yes, I asked if he actually competed in anything and he said no. This absolutely blew my mind, because like you say about EPO, it's dangerous and as far as I am aware, illegal steroids are illegal for a reason, it's not necassarily just that they give an advantage, it's that they are dangerous and have long term effects. Back when I was competing in my various sports I wouldn't dream of taking anything like that, but I will say I can to a very small degree admit that I see why competitive athletes will use them to get an edge and be more succesful. But why the heck you'd use them if you aren't even competing? I mean what advantage are you giving yourself?

And yeah in MMA it is rife isn't it, and I mean shoot me down for saying this on a boxing forum, but some of the MMA guys do have absolutely freakish fitness. I'm probably a bit naive, but I do hope that what you're saying is wrong and that the majority of the top fighters aren't on steroids.

[Dan Dares]

In case anyone missed it, Nelson Stanley makes some interesting and funny points about drug use in boxing

http://news.boxrec.com/news/2012/nelson ... ced-vision

[Matt W]

Long-term cheating using numerous substances in a sport where you can legally kill someone should mean a lifetime ban as far as I'm concerned. The systematic nature of such cheating does away with any 'I made a mistake' defence as far as I'm concerned.

That being said the biggest responsibility has got to be with the sport's governing bodies to sort this problem out; if boxers have no confidence in the drug testing system and believe their opponents may be using then the risk / reward consideration may tip towards taking stuff.

I have no doubt that if the sport was to really get serious about this issue then some real high profile figures would be caught; understandably this means that there may be a reluctance to really tackle the issue by promoters / sanctioning bodies and there needs to be a tipping point reached where the sport has to get serious about stamping this out.

Boxing should be the strictest of all sports in terms of zero tolerance on this matter.

[jtourettes]

Christ, that's terrible. Hope this can be appealed for the big man's sake. We're with you, Larry.

speak for yourself. hope he gets a lifetime ban. grossly overated just cos he posts on here anyway. as are many others for the same reason.

Indeed. 'We're with you' for a self confessed cheater on god knows how many substances. fornicate him, 4 years seems fair to me.

[ThereByTheGrace]

I would like to hear from Larry on what has happened. Not defending him at all, would just like to hear what he has to say.

I'll just retract my statement instead!!

[APaterson]

I would like to hear from Larry on what has happened. Not defending him at all, would just like to hear what he has to say.

Also, I would drug test every fighter related to Larry's promotion after hearing this. Just to see if they are any others. NOT a witchhunt, its just the apple dont fall too far from the tree.

isn't he with or was with edited by mod?

[ThereByTheGrace]

I would like to hear from Larry on what has happened. Not defending him at all, would just like to hear what he has to say.

Also, I would drug test every fighter related to Larry's promotion after hearing this. Just to see if they are any others. NOT a witchhunt, its just the apple dont fall too far from the tree.

isn't he with or was with edited by mod?

no comment

Mod: FFS, please don't link anyone else to this!

[sweetscience]

he had zero skill just brute strengh & it turns out that was due to cheating

whats the point ? he should be made to return ALL his purses

Shut up mate, Larry was a body builder long before a boxer, don't comment about what you don't know to much about.

I'm not talking about his skill as a builder....but as a boxer

And who are you to say what I do and don't know? What are your credentials ? Not that it has any bearing on my experienced opinion

[whiskey]

I thought his physique was a hangover from his 'door security' past and that he was clean.

Thing is, taking all that gear can turn you into an emotional time bomb.

Look at WWE and how many shoot their wives, top themselves or die of heart attacks young. It's a by-product of pumping incredible amounts of gear into their systems.

I assume the "trafficking" comment is because he was getting mailed to him and is on a delivery list or something ?

As others have said, it could have ended dangerously for an opponent - thankfully it did not.

It's the boxing equivalent to drink driving - selfish actions resulting in someone getting hurt.

[Coco]

I do not think steriods are rife in boxing, the vast majority of fighters are trying to cut weight.

Saying that I never once got tested

[chinny]

Sad. I remember thinking at the time how odd his comments on being so sure both PAC and Mayweather were on something seemed.

Good on you John mc

[Karl Jade]

he had zero skill just brute strengh & it turns out that was due to cheating

whats the point ? he should be made to return ALL his purses

Shut up mate, Larry was a body builder long before a boxer, don't comment about what you don't know to much about.

I'm not talking about his skill as a builder....but as a boxer

And who are you to say what I do and don't know? What are your credentials ? Not that it has any bearing on my experienced opinion

Return his purses to whom, though?

[Karl Jade]

Look at WWE and how many shoot their wives

Eh? When has this happened?

[orbtastic]

His promoter(s), I hear there are a few boxers struggling to pay the bills at the moment.