Dean Waters, a former heavyweight champion, revealed he had previously provided a urine sample allowing a fighter to pass a drug test. The sample was provided during testing for a world title fight. Furthermore, he added that he has also witnessed fellow boxers taking amphetamines and steroids.
Waters told Fairfax Media of the illegal urine tests just days before authorities announced Thursday that they had concluded an investigation that lasted a year and looked into the extent of drug use in the sporting community of Australia as well as their ties to criminal networks. Waters said he came clean because he was disgusted to think that boxing was still so dirty.
”The fighter couldn’t urinate, he’d waited a long time to pass water, so I did the test for him when the doctor left the room,” he said. ”It shouldn’t have been possible, especially because the authorities were saying it was so strict and well supervised, but we got away with it easily enough. It told me that drug tests and the procedures are flawed.”
Photo: James Brickwood
Dean Waters is the eldest of the Waters brothers, who all competed in the 1980’s and 90’s. Troy and Guy Waters were at one time both ranked No. 1 in the world. Dean Waters insisted that neither of his brothers took any drugs and that Jeff Fenech was not involved in any of the stories he relayed.
”People will make assumptions and I want to rule out both my brothers and Jeff Fenech from the outset,” Waters said. ”However, on three separate occasions I’ve seen with my own eyes guys take anabolic steroids and amphetamines before fights.
”Meth gives a user super-human strength, incredible aggression and a belief you’re invincible. It’s a good mindset for a fighter.
”I saw a world title fight a few years back and the fighter was on meth … his trainer told me so … but what happened was he took too much and his hands couldn’t keep up with his brain.”
Waters added that he could not believe he was able to, during a world title fight, provide a urine test for another fighter.
”The question has to be asked how could I get away with taking a drug test for someone else?” he said. ”Things hadn’t improved because I was in the dressing room for a fighter from overseas when he fought in Sydney and he was allowed, by the doctor, to provide the sample from behind a locked cubicle door where he was unsupervised.”
Dean Waters stressed that despite his own experiences, he felt there were only a small number of fighters who actually took drugs. He added that he felt it hurt the credibility of boxing that the two biggest stars in the game, Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr., were unable to come to terms on a fight in part because of a disagreement over drug testing protocol. But he concluded that had he known what drugs could do for a fighter, he would have considered them for himself.
”If I had known what I knew years after I finished, with drugs and boxing, I would have taken them during my career, absolutely,” he said. ”I would have to stay one step ahead. I never, ever took drugs when I fought, my brothers didn’t do that stuff, but if I’d known what I know now I think I would have done it.”
