The California State Athletic Comission confiscated a suspicious substance from the corner of Edison Miranda of Colombia last Saturday night during his fight with Andre Ward at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, CA.
Virgil Hunter, the trainer of Ward, stated that the substance was in a maroon container, which looked like a tube of Vaseline, and allegedly hidden inside a bag in a the corner of Miranda.
When the state authorities noticed that the corner would take out the substance from the bag around the fourth or fifth round of the bout, it was confiscated immediately before the substance could be used on Miranda, according to the promoter Dan Goosen.
“We are not sure what was happening but it was good that it was detected,” Hunter stated.
Goosen added that the commission will analyze the substance and might the results today. The offices of the commission were closed yesterday but their spokesperson Luis Farias confirmed that a substance was confiscated from the corner of Miranda during the fight.
The commission will decide today what is the next step to be taken.
Miranda’s managers, Steve Benbasat and Greg wantman, did not respond to the news.
Hunter and Goosend are not stating that something illegal transpired and the majority of substances that are applied to the heads or bodies of fighters are a mixture of vaseline and anticogelants to stop bleeding, both which are legal.
But boxing history is also filled with stories of substances that are applied solely to irritate teh eyes or wounds of his opponent. Ward had a cut over his eye that Miranda caused with a head butt in the first round.