Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. fined $900K

[keithlewis]

Former middleweight titlist Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. was suspended for nine months and fined a whopping $900,000 by the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Thursday for failing a drug test following his loss to champion Sergio Martinez last fall in Las Vegas.

Chavez tested positive for marijuana following his unanimous decision defeat to Martinez on Sept. 15 in one of the biggest fights of 2012, his second offense in Nevada since 2009. Chavez had his hearing on Thursday at the regular monthly meeting of the Nevada commission after his case had been repeatedly put off.

Claiming visa issues, Chavez did not attend the hearing in person, instead appearing by telephone along with Top Rank promoter Bob Arum and translator Ricardo Jimenez, a Top Rank publicist. Las Vegas attorney Don Campbell was present at the meeting to represent Chavez.

He made a plea for leniency -- a six-month suspension and $10,000 fine -- arguing that marijuana was not performance enhancing. However, the commission voted 3-2 on the punishment. The nine-month suspension, which is retroactive to the day of the fight, is in line with punishments the commission has handed out in similar cases.

However, Chavez was fined far more heavily -- 30 percent of his $3 million purse for the Martinez fight -- than he would have been because the commission viewed this as his second drug violation, albeit for a different substance, in the state in less than four years.

In November 2009, Chavez tested positive for Furosemide -- a diuretic typically used to help cut weight or used as a masking agent for steroids -- in conjunction with his fight against Troy Rowland, which took place on the Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto undercard in Las Vegas.

The commission suspended Chavez for seven months and fined him $10,000 (10 percent of his $100,000 purse) and the fight result, originally a lopsided decision win for Chavez, was changed to a no-decision.

"I'd like to apologize to everyone in boxing," Chavez told the commission. "I know this has been a very bad thing for me and my career. A lot of things have been said about it and my reputation. I respect boxing a lot. I've been in it a long time. I try to do the best I can and will continue to try to do the best I can because I love boxing more than ever."

While Arum said he had no argument with the length of the suspension, he railed against the heavy fine.

"The nine months is fine, but a 30 percent fine on a purse of $3 million, that's extortion," Arum told ESPN.com. "That means Julio has to make a decision -- is he going to contest the fine in court or he can elect not to fight ever again in Nevada. There's no question the nine months is the nine months, but it's ridiculous money, particularly since you already take out 30 percent for taxes.

"I was hoping for nine months, that worked out. The fine is an absolute stunner. You don't do that to an athlete. Which athlete in any sport has been fined as much as $900,000?"

Nevada commission executive director Keith Kizer told ESPN.com that even if Chavez refuses to pay the fine and never fights in Nevada again, the commission can still get its money by attaching his purse paid by another commission.

According to Kizer, Chavez's fine is the largest ever handed out for doping in Nevada, easily surpassing the $100,000 fine Fernando Vargas was assessed after his knockout loss to Oscar De La Hoya for a positive steroid test in 2002.

http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/89 ... -drug-test