In this season of allegations, Gervonta Davis is the latest to launch his own accusations, directed towards Devin Haney, implying that the recently-crowned WBC super lightweight champion was on performance-enhancing drugs during his December 9th fight with Regis Prograis. Davis alluded to this by mentioning SNAC, a nutrition program for athletes run by Victor Conte, a sports scientist convicted in 2005 for distributing steroids to athletes.
Victor Conte is the head of SNAC System, a company that introduced many known fighters to its SNAC program, including Devin Haney. While Conte served his time in prison nearly two decades ago for giving athletes steroids, the stigma of his actions still hangs over him and his program. Honing in on Conte’s past, Gervonta Davis spared no time suggesting Haney was on performance-enhancing drugs due to his association with the SNAC program.
“Get that SNAC s*** out of boxing,” Davis tweeted on December 13th.
“Did he, or did he not, get caught cheating before? Them SNAC people.” Gervonta Davis questioned, supposedly referring to Victor Conte during this instance.
So far, there has not been any fighter with the SNAC program that has tested positive for steroids, suggesting that, as far as the program goes, its practices have not aligned with Victor Conte’s past dabbling in distributing steroids.
The SNAC program makes use of clinically tested and approved supplements that aim to enhance the performances of athletes. The program additionally uses thorough research to support the creation of its products, and many known boxers, including the likes of Mikey Garcia and Terence Crawford, have been associated with the SNAC program without any legitimate tests suggesting the program uses PEDs.
Davis’ assertions seem to be solely spurred by Victor Conte’s ownership of the SNAC company, which he started in 2011, using Conte’s past to suggest that the fighters on the SNAC program are secretly steroid users.
Perhaps in understanding of a potential lawsuit being launched his way, Gervonta Davis has since deleted the posts from his social media account.
In response to the allegations, Victor Conte took to Twitter himself to debunk Davis’ notions of his SNAC program and its athletes engaging in any form of malpractice or cheating.
“In my opinion, it’s important for Gervonta Davis to learn the facts about Devin Haney and the SNAC system,” Conte said.
“We’ve worked together for about ten fights now. Devin has undergone stringent VADA testing for each fight. The BALCO case was 20 years ago. I have been an outspoken anti-doping advocate ever since.“
The BALCO (Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative) case involved Conte’s previous company of the same name being unveiled to have developed performance-enhancing steroids that could not be detected during drug tests. This drug involved THG (tetrahydrogestrinone), and the discovery of its performance-enhancing properties eventually led to Victor Conte’s major involvement in the creation of the substance, leading to his incarceration in 2005. Conte spent four months in prison.
Since the founding of SNAC, the company has faced scrutiny given Conte’s history with doping, but there have yet to be any cases that point towards boxers on the program testing positive for PED’s with the exception of Amir Khan, who was slammed with a two-year ban last year. However, there are other athletes represented by SNAC, such as Ronnie Coleman, who have tested positive for steroid use in the past.
Victor Conte has been a staunch advocate for nutrition, health and anti-doping since his release from prison and can still be regularly seen addressing topics of potential steroid use in boxing while still operating as the CEO of SNAC.
