Original Article: Bad Left Hook
By Wil Esco
Tuesday, February 5, 2019
In this video interview with RING magazine, Mikey Garcia fields questions about getting physically prepared to face Errol Spence and the stigma that comes along with working with Victor Conte. Check out what he had to say about if he ever considered that working with Conte ‘s SNAC program would cast suspicion about him taking PEDs:
“Look, like I’ve said, I’ve known of their system from when Nonito [Donaire] was here with my brother. So ever since then I got to know them. I had never trained here but I did, like I said, use the products and I’ve always been clean. We’ve always been a clean athlete. My team believe this is the best training we could do for the type of fight that I’m about to have.
“We want to make sure that we do everything needed to be in the best shape possible, to compete at the highest level. We’re not just fighting anybody at welterweight, we’re fighting the best welterweight, the strongest, the most feared, you know, the toughest opponent. So we wanna make sure that we do everything necessary for my performance. And I know that there is some past and history that some people still bring up and point fingers at, but ever since Victor came back with a new method of training, new supplements, he’s been showing that his products work, the results are there, the athletes taking it are competing at a higher level.
“And if anybody is here training, he actually encourages everybody to get enrolled in the VADA program, to get enrolled in the anti-doping agencies to show that we are clean. He is clean. Now anybody that uses the product but goes home and does something else on the their own, that’s not on us, that’s not on Victor. If anybody else claims to be using the product but happens to use something else illegally, you know, without anyone else’s knowledge, that’s on him.
“But the ones here — we’ve been tested. And we’re fine, we’re clean. He kept insisting that we make sure we’re enrolled in the VADA testing because they test probably more in depth than other agencies or anything like that. I said ‘look, I got no problem with anybody.’ We can enroll in any testing that’s needed. I don’t have any problem. I’ve always been a clean fighter. And in order to make sure everybody understands that, we enrolled in the VADA, we’ve been tested already. I know Errol Spence also enrolled and he started getting tested.
“I feel this is an opportunity to show the world that me and Spence are both clean, fighting in the same level playing field. Neither one of us is using anything illegal and that’s why we’re here. I’m available to test at any point that they want. I’m glad that we are doing this to show everybody that this is a clean sport also. A few members, or a few athletes have used other things in the past and it’ll always be around, it’s always gonna be something that people might still try to mess with, but in my case I’m not someone to hide anything. I’m here, I’m clean, I got no problem.”
