Barnett misses appeal with CSAC, for fourth time
Josh Barnett’s appeal to the California State Athletic Commission has been delayed for the fourth time and won’t be heard…
Josh Barnett’s appeal to the California State Athletic Commission has been delayed for the fourth time and won’t be heard until the commission’s next meeting on April 20.
The commission delayed the appeal when Barnett, 32, failed to appear at an official commission meeting today in Los Angeles. Barnett’s lawyer, Michael DiMaggio, spoke on behalf of Barnett and was denied a request to continue without the fighter.
Shannon Hooper, Barnett’s manager, told MMAjunkie.com on Monday that Barnett was in Japan on Sunday for a pro wrestling match and will return to the U.S. later today.
“If the CSAC was requiring his presence, he wasn’t aware of it,” Hooper said.
But George Dodd, the CSAC’s new executive director, said Barnett was notified via letter that he was required to be at the appeal.
“The letter went out when his license was first denied,” Dodd said. “When we came [to Los Angeles], we were fully expecting him to be here. We didn’t know he was out of the country fighting.”
This past July, Barnett was denied a license to fight Fedor Emelianenko at “Affliction: Trilogy” when he failed the first random drug test in the commission’s history. Barnett tested positive for a metabolite of the synthetic steroid Drostanolone.
Shortly after the denial, Barnett claimed the test was not random and vowed to resolve the issue with the commission.
“I had no reason to believe there would be any issues and went in to submit my sample at the earliest possible opportunity on June 25,” he wrote on his Myspace page. “I never once thought there would be a problem.”
