The concept of taking performance enhancing drugs isn't a new thing. For as long as people have competed against each other, there have been some who have wanted to slant the playing field in their own favour. It's one thing to do that in, say, baseball or cycling (and, my goodness, have they ever) but it seems an entirely different situation when you consider the subject of steroids in combat sports like boxing or mixed martial arts.
Of course, neither sport is immune to the scourge of illegal performance enhancers and it is probably fair to say that there will never come a point when either of these sports can rid itself of the black eye of steroid use. While it is true that the UFC, to name one sports organisation, has taken extraordinary measures to take on the section of its athletes who attempt to rig the system in their own favour, the end result only seems to impact the fans. See Jon Jones' removal from the recent UFC 200 card for evidence of this.
That's why what is currently happening to former WBA, IBF and WBO world middleweight champion is so interesting.
Felix Sturm (40-5-3, 1 NC, 18 KO) is facing criminal proceedings for testing positive for illegal substance stanozlol - an anabolic steroid - last February after a win against Fedor Chudinov and Sturm could be the first high-profile victim of a new German law which states that anyone who tests positive (in any sport) could face as much as three years in prison.
This is an incredibly interesting development. The rules for testing positive in the UFC, for example, have been made much more severe. Any infraction, even an athletes first, could lead to a two-year ban from the sport. Repeated offences could see an athlete banned for five years, effectively enforcing their retirement.
A debate has raged consistently in mixed martial arts about whether fighters should face criminal proceedings if they knowingly take a substance which gives them an unfair advantage in a fight, particularly in the event of their being a serious injury caused as a result.
Sturm has since moved back to his native Bosnia so it is unclear at this point when, or if, he will face charges.
[ESPN]
