Blood doping in boxing

[radianttwilight]

A recent conversation about late 1960s/early 1970s distance running, and in particular Steve Prefontaine and Lasse Viren, provoked some boxing-related questions.

Viren, among other distance runners of the period, is rumored to have been blood doping since as early as 1970. The methodology for doping or "blood loading" has been around since that time period, at the latest.

My question for the Classic forum is the following - do you think any professional boxers in the 1960s/1970s "blood doped"? If you don't, why not?

I can imagine that it would be far more effective than conventional steroids, which at the time were mostly a bodybuilding/strength-gaining tool, for the boxer. Loading blood can triple the body's red blood cell count, allowing for greatly increased stamina and aerobic capacity.

Another question - If they aren't, why aren't boxers doing it today? I don't think the regulatory comissions test in patterns that would be effective in detecting blood dopers. Professional track & field has a very difficult time catching blood dopers, after all, and they are specifically intending to root out dopers.

[Russell]

Honeslty, sounds exactly like lower end supplements that you can pick up at a local GNC, such as Nitric Oxide boosters.

Steroids are misused in sports. Boxing anyway. 90% of the boxers using them think they're some end all that's going to make them world class and in some cases it just ends up being detrimental.

[radianttwilight]

Steroids are misused in sports. Boxing anyway. 90% of the boxers using them think they're some end all that's going to make them world class and in some cases it just ends up being detrimental.

I agree with you wholeheartedly on the highlighted point.

However, I don't think a boxer can ever have too much stamina, which is why I'm asking.

[Russell]

There are simpler and safer ways to increase stamina, like Ephedrine/Ephedra.

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