Claressa Shields (16-0, 3 KO’s) is planning to take legal action against boxing journalist Rick Glaser after he reported her of having failed a drug test for performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs).
“Claressa Shields has reputedly failed a drug test for her most recent fight, rumored to be a PED test.” Glaser stated on his Twitter/X account yesterday.
Roughly two hours later, sports nutritionist and SNAC founder Victor Conte would substantiate on what actually occurred, clarifying that Shields had not tested positive for either PEDs or marijuana―with the latter having circulated around social media following Glaser’s report.
“IMORTANT NOTICE TO BOXING: [Claressa Shields] did not test positive for a PED after her recent fight in Michigan,” Conte’s statement reads.
“Claressa had not smoked marijuana, however, the commision did a mouth swab test after the fight. There seems to be a number of issues that exist with the Michigan testing procedure. Urine is the normal sample used to test for marijuana. Most credible anti-doping entities do not consider marijuana to be a PED.
“VADA found no PEDs in Claressa’s blood and urine samples. The Nevada [state athletic] commision, the UFC and other commissions do not consider marijuana a PED. The amount found in her mouth swab was 3.4 ng/ml or parts per billion.
“This is an ultra-trace amount that likely would have come from second-hand smoke in the arena. There were also other irregularities that occured in the testing procedure. The world of boxing needs to clearly understand that Claressa is a clean boxer and always has been. More information about this rather unusual case will become available soon.“
Conte, who is currently an anti-doping activist after a stint in prison roughly two decades ago for administering steroids to professional athletes, is closely connected to Shields who is tied to his SNAC programme. According to the anti-doping advocate, there was a trace amount of cannabis found in Shields’ system, but this is attributed to second-hand smoke rather than actual use of marijuana after a mouth swab test.
Furthermore the urine or drug test that was administered by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency (VADA) for Shields’ February 2nd fight against Danielle Perkins (5-1, 2 KO’s) found no evidence of any banned substance in her system.
The Michigan State Athletic Commission, who oversaw and sanctioned the February 2nd event held in Shields’ home town of Flint, Michigan, conducted the mouth swab test. As Conte’s statement reads, mouth swab tests are generally do not appear to be the main method to detect marijuana or PEDs, and the Michigan commission has further been alleged to have problems within their testing procedures―though Conte did not substantiate on what exactly these issues pertain to.
It is also still unclear whether Shields actually failed the mouth swab test or not, marijuana metabolites are listed by the Michigan’s Unarmed Combat Commission (UCC) as a controlled substance and is therefore banned from use. As Shields has not been suspended by the Michigan, this suggests that, like Conte stated, the trace amount of marijuana in her system―reportedly 3/4 ng/nl―was not of sufficient amount for her to fail the commission’s drug test nor does it indicate there was any direct use of cannabis by Shields.
Following Rick Glaser’s report, Shields has threatened potential legal action if the post wasn’t deleted:
“He’s [Rick Glaser] lying, no other person had tweeted anything,” Shields said on her Twitter/X account.
“He started a rumor with his platform and tried to smear dirt on my name. He has been a hater of me for years. But this has taken it too far. He don’t delete it he’s getting sued.“
Despite Shields’ intent to sue if Glaser’s post still remained, the report has not been deleted and the boxing insider has since defended his post by stating he had referred to the use of “reputedly” and “rumored” in his statement, signaling his intent was not to smear Shields’ name.
