"I mean, when you think about it, and you just said something, due process. We never really had due process. This wasn't innocent until he was proven guilty; he was guilty before he can be proven innocent...Say what you want to say, but I'm a person that goes with the facts and with the facts, you have the truth. Not what you like or what you don't like, or how you feel. None of that matters at the end of the day. The only thing that matters, like it, hate it, love it, or what, is the facts, and we done presented all kinds of evidence, and from what I hear and what I gather, nobody is listening. We got facts on the table. I didn't stumble or stutter not one time and neither did doc," stated world-class trainer Barry Hunter, who along with Dr. John Thompson, explained exactly why Lamont Peterson was taking the testosterone pellets, which resulted in one of his samples testing positive, and why they did not give him any unfair advantage. You don't want to miss what they had to say. Check it out!
PC: Can you break down the procedure that you did on Lamont that led to this positive test.
DJT: Okay, I made a medical decision to treat Lamont Peterson after it was brought to my attention from a lab test that he took back in October, I believe, showing that he had dangerously low levels of testosterone in his body. I made a medical decision at that time because he was complaining of fatigue and some problems concentrating. Putting those together, the symptoms with the lab test results helped explain what was a major part of the problem. I made a medical decision to treat him. What did I treat him with? I treated him with some bio identical testosterone pellets that have been used in this country since the 1930's. The pellets are made from soy and even after the second compression of pellets, there is no soy in them. The pellets are time released, which means they are slow release. They medically release testosterone in the body as if the testosterone was released in a normal fashion. He received 800 mg of slow-acting pellets and the pellets usually don't have a great onset until about 3 1/2 months before you get them. Mind you, he got the pellets 4 weeks before the fight. Pellets do not enhance athletic performance. They are not designed to do that and they couldn't do that anyway because of the nature of how they release testosterone. His level of free testosterone was of that of a 70 to 80-year-old man. I actually have 70 and 80-year-old patients in my practice who have much higher testosterone levels and they don't even take testosterone.
PC: So these pellets are in no shape or form a performance enhancing anabolic steroid, correct?
DJT: No! Listen to what I'm saying! These are pellets that release testosterone physiologically. It's a physiological dose vs. a pharmacological dose. Let's make sure we are talking about the same thing here. Physiological dose is what the body would normally produce and release within a 24-hour cycle. Pharmacological dose is a dose above and beyond what the body would produce. So those are two distinct things that the public has no clue of what's going on. Nobody knows. They just want to say, "He's cheating," and doing this and that. This was a medical decision made by me, the physician, to treat him for a condition. You know we had to diagnose him with severe testosterone deficiency. It's not borderline; it's severe.
PC: Barry, is this a situation that you guys plan on fighting. You guys have been fairly quiet and trying to let it serve its due process, but I'm sure this has been eating at you? I mean, I was just talking with someone who was in the amateurs with him and they were praising his work ethic.
BH: Yeah, I mean, when you think about it, and you just said something, due process. We never really had due process. This wasn't innocent until he was proven guilty; he was guilty before he can be proven innocent.
DJT: With a shred of evidence.
BH: Here is a guy, like you said, since the amateurs has never tested positive for anything other than heart. Other than that, he's never ever tested positive for dirty blood or urine. After, and I want you to stay with me on this, after doc told us exactly what he thought was the problem, and he thought it may be some more problems that are causing it, but doc treated him because I'm not his doctor and I don't know the process and things of that nature. Once doc treated him, keep in mind, he had a low testosterone level. I think 7.5, and doc, you can correct me if I'm wrong.
DJT: Yeah, 7.5 free testosterone.
BH: 7.5 free testosterone. He didn't test positive before the fight; he didn't test positive after the fight. And as doc said, it has a slow release, so it really didn't kick in until a couple of months afterwards. This is something else I want you to remember is that it was Lamont that pushed for drug testing. Not that he was accusing Amir, but he was piggybacking off of what Floyd did. It was the safe thing for all fighters to start doing. You never know; you can be getting something in your body that you don't know you getting in your body and test positive for something and it could have diverse affects and it could cause you to get killed or something. So we pushed for it. So my question that I have, and I'm kind of in my emotions right now because I'm tired of people bashing my kid, if after he got this treatment from doc, not only did it have a slow release, but after it kicked in, the testosterone level dropped. It dropped 2.5 lower than it was when he first got it. Now, stay with me, if this man is doping or was doping, which we have evidence clear across the board that he wasn't, even if he didn't tell me he wasn't. All of the tests from that point up to the present time were negative, negative, negative, negative, and a positive that only showed in the urine and not the blood. And then we had our own independent lab work done, which we took the highest we could get. Instead of having them test for 6 things, we had them test for all 9. They all came back negative. But his free testosterone levels, and keep in mind this the same testosterone that was supposed to test positive and be off the chain, how can you get that crazy number when the man had virtually no testosterone?
DJT: How are you going to have such a high level in the urine and then it's not detected in the blood when the liver has to filter everything going through the system? How is that even possible? Tell me if you know how. Maybe you know something; you been on the beat for a while. I don't know, man. You tell me.
BH: This is my problem. When we found out that there was a positive reading in his urine, we didn't know what it was. They told me to look for some possible cream or gel that had steroids in it. We looked at lotions, shampoos, conditioner, we checked his daughter, we checked his girlfriend, we looked at the...we had some arthritis heat rub. We checked that it all came back negative. We checked his sports drink and we just scrambling around because this had never happened to us. At the end of all of that, we turned around and after the second test came back, the B sample came back positive, we going through all of these tests and nobody found any trace of steroids in this man body. His liver didn't reflect it, his skin didn't reflect it, his gonads didn't reflect it; nothing reflected that he was doping. If you look at the letters that the doctors put out, you will see that. So how can you, on April 15th, test positive and then 4 or 5 days later, we send it to the lab and all 6 tests come back negative, and not only did they come back negative, but his testosterone levels dropped 2.5 and now it's down to 5.
DJT: Like I said, if you know man, educate me to it please. I'm just a doctor. I don't know that much about it, man.
PC: I thought it was awkward for him to test positive given he was the one who wanted extended testing.
BH: It don't make sense. We were told that this was supposed to be top of the line drug testing. And again, let me say this, and I want to be firm on this, we never accused Amir of anything. This wasn't about Amir and it wasn't about Lamont; it was about setting a standard in boxing. That's what that was all about. And then, this was a test that he knew he was going to take, so why in the hell would you even show up for a test and you know you dirty? Somebody tell me what's going on! So he takes the test knowing that he is positive? Stay with me on this one now, he knew he was taking notified test and then two random tests, and then add one, the test that we had independently, and they all came back negative. Do the math. Please help me understand because I don't understand. I don't understand how you can take somebody like this, man, and the doctor was shocked that he was able to perform and win at a world-class level with such low testosterone.
DJT: It was amazing. It was will; shear will. I think boxers are increased risk if you put them in situations where they are fighting these types of fights with that low of testosterone. The testosterone is elevated naturally in the male body for a reason. And when you lower testosterone, several things can possibly happen. You can be more fatigued, your concentration level will be down, and your reflexes won't be as sharp. And it also makes you more vulnerable to get a head injury from blows to the head. These things have to be brought up and we have to push forward with the information. I don't think that you can get any reputable doctor to say they would recommend a guy step into the ring with this low of testosterone. I don't think you would find one.
PC: Barry, you have always been straight up. I hope in some way, shape or form that you guys get due process and things go back to normal. Is there anything else you want to say before I let you go?
BH: Thank you, man. All praise go to the most high. All I was interested in, and even though it hurt like hell, I'm going to be honest, it's no different from if you have a son or you have a daughter and somebody slandering them when you know they did everything right. This dude been a straight gladiator is what he is.
DJT: He has been something boxing should be proud of. If they take the time to know who this boy is, they would be more reserved about their comments. They are taking one little tread of evidence and running with that.
BH: One positive, even if this was school and this was a test, if you get one B and 6 A's, those A's erase the B. So how can they just take, out of all of this evidence, and pick and choose what you wanna take, either one of us can walk in a room with a body laying on the floor and sit on the bed. If we don't come in contact with that body and none of their DNA is on us and ours on them, it's going to be hard as hell to prove that we killed this man.
DJT: You're going to have a hard time finding someone to take that case because it's not enough evidence.
BH: You may walk in and see me sitting on the bed, but do that necessarily mean I did it? Come on, man. Say what you want to say, but I'm a person that goes with the facts and with the facts, you have the truth. Not what you like or what you don't like, or how you feel. None of that matters at the end of the day. The only thing that matters, like it, hate it, love it, or what, is the facts, and we done presented all kinds of evidence, and from what I hear and what I gather, nobody is listening. We got facts on the table. I didn't stumble or stutter not one time and neither did doc.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]