Drug testing has been part of boxing since the 1980s. It has evolved over the years to tackle various problems, but it still has a long way to go. Corruption, lack of unified regulations, use of masking agents, and the simple cost of testing, in addition to the influence and greed of several promoters and stakeholders, have always made dope testing rather challenging.

It not only ruins the sport but also endangers the lives of the boxers involved in the fight. Therefore, the charge made by Tevin Farmer after his match against William Zepeda on Saturday at The Venue in Riyad, Saudi Arabia, is rather shocking.

Tevin Farmer alleges impropriety in the William Zepeda fight

The 34-year-old boxer suffered his career’s seventh defeat on Saturday as he lost the fight via a split decision against the knockout artist. In the process, Farmer dropped the interim WBC lightweight title to Zepeda. However, ‘American Idol’ stole the spotlight from the fight by questioning the lack of random drug testing before it on social media.

He wrote, “Why wasn’t me and Zepeda drug tested ? I ask multiple times in the locker room before we fought,” stating how he never got the reason behind no drug testing. He further revealed that the promoters told him that there would be tests after the fight, but “still no test” despite the fight being a title fight sanctioned by the WBC.

Farmer clarified that he is not making excuses for his loss but is instead raising questions that he believes deserve attention. The incident made Farmer realize that “Boxing is dirty,” and demanded answers from the authorities involved while revealing that it was the only fight on the card that was not tested.

So many questions

In another tweet, the 33-7-1 boxer revealed that “Every other championship fight on the card was drug tested.” The Riyadh Season Latino Night card included the main event of Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez vs. Chris Billam-Smith in a cruiserweight unification bout. The undercard included Jose Ramirez vs. Arnold Barbosa Jr. and Oscar Duarte vs. Botirzhon Akhmedov in the super lightweight division. It also involved Oscar Collazo defending his WBO minimumweight title against Thammanoon Niyomtrong. Furthermore, Ziyad Almaayouf took on Juan Garcia in a welterweight bout.

According to Farmer, they tested both Collazo and Niyomtrong for their title bout so “Why not test me and Zepeda?” He revealed how he constantly kept asking for tests before the fight but to no avail. After the match, everyone told Farmer “Oh we was short staffed,” and that is why the test could not happen.

But the 34-year-old does not believe in the reason provided as “It was only 6 fights on the card,” including the Farmer-Zepeda bout. Golden Boy Promotions has yet to explain the reason behind the lack of random drug testing for the fight. However, a callous attitude towards drug testing surely puts the lives and careers of these boxers at risk, if that is in fact the case.

What are your views regarding the Tevin Farmer’s accusations? Do you think the drug testing rules should be standardized across the board in boxing? Let us know your thoughts down below.