The question I pose in my blog post title, implies that there is, in fact, a performance-enhancing drug (PED) problem in the sport. 
I’m not exactly sure but here’s some background.
The first major drug test incident that comes to mind was Fernando Vargas’ failed drug test after his brutal TKO loss to Oscar De La Hoya. Perhaps because he lost the fight to the Golden Boy, no major uproar ensued.
In fact, many ring experts, like sage trainer/commentator Emmanuel Steward, implied that "juicing" wasn’t necessarily a good thing. Many guessed that it often made fighters more densely muscled, yet more rigid and stiff. For a time, the questions seemed to diminish.
After that incident, you had the residual impact of baseball’s numerous PED investigations on boxing. In fact, Shane Mosley was ultimately implicated as a part of the larger BALCO investigation. Although the outcome was certainly not what most sorts betting sites were predicting it to be (a Mosley victory over De La Hoya), the steroids revelation was even more shocking.
Most recently, Floyd Mayweather carried the mantle of "ridding the sport of performance-enhancing drugs by way of mandatory blood testing" before every major fight. Although Mayweather”s quasi-campaign clearly had ulterior motives during his pre-fight negotiations for a superfight with Manny Pacquiao, it now appears prophetic given the recent rash of violations by Andre Berto, Lamont Peterson, and Antonio Tarver.
If big name fighters are willing to cheat before major, publicized fights, what on earth is going on in general?
I won’t even try to answer that question, but I think we can guess what the answer is.
I don’t think you answered the question you started out with. Is it ruining boxing? Well, that depends. Today there are so many varieties of performance enhancing drugs that it’s impossible to test for everyone. And really, that’s the pickle EVERY sport is in, isn’t it? Testing for these PED, is going to forever play catchup to whatever new concoction people like BALCO can come up with. Rather than try to fight a losing battle, why not just lift all restrictions. Let’s educate athletes regarding the risks of using PEDs, and then let them go wild.
You know, I was watching the Olympics the other day and noticed that the swim suits that Michael Phelps and company used four years ago are now gone. Why? According to the commentators the suits provided that little extra in order to give athlete’s an extra advantage. How long before someone comes up with something similar for boxing? Think it can’t be done? You are just not thinking big enough.
You make some really great points here Gabe. I would say this: why not at least START with mandatory blood testing, and go from there? We can worry about advancements later. 🙂