David Benavidez hopes Jose Uzcategui serves more than a six-month suspension for failing a pre-fight drug test.
Benavidez believes that if punishment from boxing commissions in the United States isn’t consistently commensurate with the potentially lethal consequences of using PEDs, it won’t deter fighters from trying to cheat.
The unbeaten Benavidez instead will encounter Kyrone Davis in the 12-round main event Saturday night of a “Showtime Championship Boxing” doubleheader from Footprint Center in Phoenix, Benavidez’s hometown.
“This is definitely something that has to be taken very serious,” Benavidez told BoxingScene.com. “Steroids is a serious problem. You know, he has to pay the punishment. I definitely feel like he needs to be punished a little bit more [than six months].”
The 24-year-old Benavidez also pointed out that Canelo Alvarez served a suspension he considers too short for his PED ordeal early in 2018.
Alvarez twice tested positive for clenbuterol in February 2018, which led to the Nevada State Athletic Commission suspending him for six months.
Failing those tests caused Alvarez’s lucrative middleweight championship rematch versus rival Gennadiy Golovkin to be postponed for four months, from May 2018 until September 2018.
“They’re very lenient on Canelo,” Benavidez said. “They let Canelo do whatever he wants. That’s why he was able to get that short suspension. Suspensions for [PEDs] should be for almost a year or a year-and-a-half. It’s nothing to play with. I think people have to be punished more.”
