Yesterday, the New York State Athletic Commission publicly announced that James Toney had tested positive for steroids after his WBA Title victory over John Ruiz and have ruled the fight a no contest.

Toney can't fight in New York, or any state for that matter, for three months and was fined $10,000.  The WBA is guaranteed to give the championship back to Ruiz, and it's possible that Ruiz's handlers try to hold up Toney's share of the fight purse.

That punishment is pretty weak.  If Toney roided, and several people said he was acting volatile throughout the whole weekend, then he should have been fined much more.  Even though the fight wasn't highly publicized and Don King probably took a loss from it, $10,000 is barely a blip on the radar, and most boxers only fight months at a time anyway.  Instead of Toney fighting in late July, as he was currently working to secure a championship fight against IBF titlist Chris Byrd, he'll have to wait until August to fight, although it's doubtful if Byrd will take that fight now.

Another black eye has been levied against a sport who already has plenty.  It's bad enough that the heavyweight division is probably the worst it has been since the start of the Sullivan Era, but then to have a pudgy, out of shape boxer walk in and capture an alphabet title while roided won't help things either.  And although he was cheated, I'm not sure the best thing to do is give the title back to John Ruiz, who is about as entertaining to watch as sawdust.