MMA Junkie is reporting that Josh Barnett missed yet another appeal of his steroid suspension following the cancellation of his fight with Fedor at the legendary Affliction: Trilogy event:
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 (www.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.
While it’s easy to point to the less than stellar track record of the CSAC the blame falls on Barnett and his camp’s shoulders here. They’ve been going through this for so long that if they’re truly interested in trying to appeal they should be taking the initiative of having everyone involved in the room when it goes down.
I can’t even imagine why they would think an athletic commission which suspended an athlete for PED usage wouldn’t want the athlete there when trying to get a situation overturned. It’s practically a joke at this point.