Lightweight Bey gets ‘fair shake’ with penalty for elevated testosterone level

Mickey Bey apparently caught the Nevada Athletic Commission on a good day Wednesday.

In a rare display of leniency, the NAC suspended Bey, a Las Vegas boxer, for three months and fined him $1,000 after he tested positive for an abnormal level of testosterone following his Feb. 2 knockout of Robert Rodriguez in the third round of their 10-round lightweight bout at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Bey’s testosterone-to-epitestosterone (T/E) ratio was 30-to-1, five times over Nevada’s allowable ratio of 6-to-1.

The suspension began that night, so Bey will be allowed to make a May 4 date on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Robert Guerrero main event at the MGM Grand Garden.

Bey, whose win over Rodriguez will be changed to a no contest, could have received as much as a one-year suspension and a 30 percent fine of his $8,000 purse. Last year, the NAC suspended mixed martial artist Alistair Overeem nine months when his T/E ratio was 14-to-1.

“For the most part, I got a fair shake,” Bey said. “This time, the fighter was the victim. The penalty was the overall stress it cost me and my family having to deal with this.”

Bey and his Las Vegas-based attorney, Joe Brown, argued that the 29-year-old fighter had been diagnosed with a low testosterone level before his Feb. 2 fight. Bey initially visited the Las Vegas Health Center on Jan. 5 because he thought he had the flu. Dr. Carmen Jones, who treated Bey, ordered blood tests, and they showed his testosterone level was low, as well as a decreased libido and increased fatigue.

Bey subsequently received two injections, the second coming a couple of days before the fight, to treat the conditions and boost his immune system.

Bey told the commission he explained to the doctor that he could not use something that was performance enhancing, and he was assured that he would not be given any PEDs. Brown said the doctor wrote on Bey’s chart: “Enhancement is not an option.”

“They told me what shots they gave me weren’t performance enhancing,” Bey said. “I put my trust in their hands.”

The commissioners believed Bey’s story, but only by a 3-2 vote.

During the deliberation, commissioner Pat Lundvall wanted a harsher penalty imposed — six months instead of three. Had Lundvall gotten her way, it would have precluded Bey from fighting May 4, as he still would have been under suspension. Commissioner Francisco Aguilar voted with Lundvall against the motion for a three-month ban, while Skip Avansino and T.J. Day supported it.

NAC chairman Bill Brady cast the deciding vote for leniency, saying that each case has to be judged on its individual merits.

“I’m very grateful to the commission,” Bey said. “But I’ve never used drugs. All I did was follow the doctor’s advice.”

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.