When the news broke that Shane Mosley was using steroids during training for his second victory against Oscar De La Hoya, the boxer used excuse 703-B to explain how they got in his body: "I didn't know what I was taking." The idea that a professional athlete, especially a boxer, just takes whatever someone gives him without the slightest concern about what they're ingesting has never seemed all that plausible. It wasn't believable when Marion Jones used it before finally admitting her drug use and it's no easier to believe out of Mosley's mouth.
The explanation took another hit last week when BALCO founder Victor Conte said his forthcoming book would "set the record straight" about Mosley's use of performance enhancers. Mosley, who fights Zab Judah on May 31, responded to that by suing Conte for libel and slander and claiming that Conte told him he was being given legal supplements and vitamins. Conte answered back yesterday.
"I didn't deceive him; he knew what he was taking and I told him that before he took it...I told him it was an undetectable steroid that wouldn't show up in a test."Conte also says he's got all the doping calenders and receipts for the drugs that Mosley bought to bolster his claim. Mosley's used those receipts, he paid by check, to say that he's not stupid enough to pay for illegal drugs with personal checks. Following that logic, he is dumb enough to pay $900 for vitamins, though.
