Robert Garcia, left, in San Antonio, Tex. (Photo: Chris Robinson – www.HustleBoss.com)
By Chris Robinson
According to a report from Tim Smith of RingTV.com, former lightweight titlist Brandon Rios failed his post-fight drug test following his Nov. 23 unanimous decision loss to Manny Pacquiao.
The Pacquiao vs. Rios event took place inside of the Venetian Resort’s Coati Arena in Macau, China and Rios had been tested by VADA on repeated occasions while training for the fight inside of his trainer Robert Garcia’s personal gym in Oxnard, Calif.
Rios tested negative for four VADA-administered tests prior to the match but was found to have the banned substance methlexanamine in his system afterwards. The drug is known as a stimulant related to dietary supplements.
Garcia is presently in San Antonio, Tex. ahead of his fighter Marcos Maidana’s Showtime clash against Adrien Broner and he took a minute to speak on the news of Rios’ failed test after the weigh-in.
“Right now I don’t even want to look into that, because I’m focused on Marcos Maidana,” Garcia explained to the media. “I don’t even want to talk about it with Marcos or anything. I did talk to Brandon, he’s the only person that I’ve talked to, and I don’t know none of the names or anything that they’re mentioning.
“And he mentioned that he looked it up and it’s something you can get [over] the counters,” Garcia continued. “I don’t even know what it is. I’m going to look into it after the fight. Right now I don’t want to focus on that. I’m focusing on Chino and I want Chino to be 100%. I don’t want this to affect me or Chino.”
If anything, Garcia seems just as stumped as the rest of the boxing public with this one.
“We know he was testing every week or so and then they tested after the fight,” said Garcia. “If I’m not mistaken, what Brandon said was what tested positive was the one after the fight. That’s what I was told. I’m not sure.”
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Chris Robinson can be reached at Trimond@aol.com