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Drug ‘crisis point’ – Frampton calls for sport to wake up or face ‘dark consequences’

Carl Frampton believes boxing has reached ‘crisis point’ in terms of drug use and has called for action with ‘dark consequences’ looming.

‘The Jackal’ used his Sunday Life column to come out strong against performance enhancing drug use this week and prompted by the news surrounding Jarrell Miller’s numerous failed tests was forthright in his views on the matter.

The former two-weight world champion not only labelled Miller’s six month suspension from the WBA a ‘joke’, he called for life time bans for anyone caught taking banned substances regardless of circumstances.

Frampton also called for the sport to stand up and take major action in a bid to deal with an issue he points out is becoming more prominent.

“Boxing has hit crisis point when it comes to drugs within the sport and everyone needs to wake up to that fact and start acting in proper fashion to deal with it,” wrote the Belfast fighter.

“Miller should have been banned from the sport for life but instead he can still try and go a licence from anther commission in the States, who knows he might be successful and even if he is not, in theory he could fight someone like Deontay Wilder for the WBC world title the day after the ban or the WBA for that matter held by AJ. It’s a joke, a sick joke.”

“If I fight in the Summer I will have been out of the ring for eight months and that’s without any ban-that’s how daft this situation is.”

“Proper bans – lifetime bans need to be brought in for anyone caught and for that to happen we there needs to be a coming together of the four main governing bodies, the governing body of every country and the commissions in the States to declare a blanket ban on anyone who fails a test.”

The Jamie Moore-trained fighter worries that something as serious as death may have to happen before action is taken, adding that “it’s clear we are hearing about drug use more and more and sadly, although this may sound harsh and morbid, I think it will take someone to die from injuries in the ring inflicted by someone on drugs to make the top men in boxing wake up to the seriousness of the cancer of drugs in our sport.”

“The situation is worse than I first believed and it’s deeply concerning because it’s not being taken seriously.”

“The credibilty of boxing is as stake and so is the health of the men entering the ring, so it’s time all of the major players stood up and took action or there will be dark consequences.”

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Jonny Stapleton

Irish-boxing.com contributor for 15 years and editor for the past decade. Have been covering boxing for over 16 years and writing about sports for a living for over 20 years. Former Assistant Sports editor for the Gazette News Paper Group and former Tallaght Voice Sports Editor. Have had work published in publications around the world when working as a freelance journalist. Also co-founder of Junior Sports Media and Leinster Rugby PRO of the Year winner. email: editoririshboxing@gmail.com

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