February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Power, who emerged as a big favorite to win the 178-pound novice class title after defeating Gleason?s Reginald LaCrete two weeks ago, was disqualified last week after allegedly failing a drugs test.
A urine sample the hard hitter from Limerick submitted some 90 minutes before facing LaCrete at Glen Cove High School tested positive for codeine; ?opiates,? his Morris Park trainer Victor Pena quoted the Gloves? organizers at the New York Daily News as saying.
Apparently, Power ingested the codeine through two tablets of Syndol, a painkiller he took on the morning of the Feb. 26 fight for a hunger headache.
According to the My Pharmacy UK Web site, Syndol, which is manufactured in Britain, contains several active ingredients, including 10 mg of codeine phosphate BP and caffeine.
Codeine is a member of the drug class opiates. Opiates include all naturally occurring drugs with morphine-like effects such as codeine and all semi- and fully synthetic drugs with morphine-like effects such as heroin and meperidine (Demerol).
Codeine is available by prescription only in most parts of the U.S.
?Jamie is not a drug user or anything like that,? Pena insisted.
He demanded a more judicious application of the Gloves drug policy, which along with Power has also claimed two boxers who took cough medication and a third who used a nasal spray containing a banned substance.
?If someone uses marijuana, cocaine or steroids, that is bad. But what Jamie took, it doesn?t enhance him,? Pena said.
?I feel bad,? the 40-year veteran lamented. ?I broke my [behind] training Jamie for a year. The guy he beat was supposed to be the toughest — the rest are a bunch of pineapples.?
Power was also gutted, and even more peeved that Gloves officials didn?t go into detail about his alleged indiscretion when they called him early last week to inform him of his disqualification.
?They told me it was codeine but gave no reason. Victor had to contact them,? the heartbroken fighter said. ?It?s so upsetting. I wasn?t given a chance to explain myself.?
Still determined to clear his name of any perceived wrongdoing, Power decided to take a blood test at his own cost to prove that he?s not a drug taker. The results are pending.
?A blood test is more accurate. I?ll take the results to the Gloves organizers. I don?t care if I?m not reinstated. But I don?t want to be known as a cheater,? he stressed.
According to Power, he?d starved himself for 24 hours before his second round fight with LaCrete in order to make the 178-pound limit.
?I didn?t eat anything from 6 p.m. on Wednesday [Feb. 25]
until after the weigh-in on Thursday evening before the fight,? he recalled.
But he?d woken up with a headache that morning and saw a doctor who he said gave him a prescription for Syndol, which is recommended for the fast relief of tension headaches and other such pains.
He took two tablets and didn?t eat anything until after he?d provided the urine sample.
In the fight itself, Power, who displayed probably the best left hook in the 77th Golden Gloves, had the upper hand against the powerful LaCrete for the first two rounds, before tiring in the third. He won a 4-1 decision to reach the quarterfinals.
Power had earlier beaten Hassahn Gordon in his first bout in the Gloves.
The 24-year-old plans a professional career after he accumulates enough amateur experience.
O?Regan ready
Don O?Regan, the other Morris Park fighter from Limerick in the Gloves, declared all systems go for Friday?s quarterfinals at the Manhattan PAL, even as he commiserated with Power.
O?Regan, who lost at the quarterfinal stage when he campaigned as a 178-pounder two years ago, won?t know his opponent in the 165-pound novice class until after the 6 p.m. weigh-in on Friday.
But he?s ready.
?I?ve been sparring eight rounds with four different guys. It?s tough,? he said.
He?ll have special motivation to win and make the semifinals in the shape of his father, James, who arrived from Limerick at the weekend and will be in the audience at the Manhattan PAL (441 Manhattan Ave., at 119th Street). The show starts at 8 p.m.
To reach the quarterfinals, O?Regan, a 28-year-old carpenter, defeated William Rosinsky in the tournament?s opening round and Anton Williams at the second stage.