Lab Report Confirms Whitaker Did Test Positive For Cocaine

New details call into question the World Boxing Association’s recent decision to throw out Pernell “Sweetpea” Whitaker’s positive drug test for cocaine.

The quality control manager at the laboratory that tested Whitaker’s urine sample said the results were misinterpreted by Whitaker’s lawyer in the evidence he presented to the WBA, and that Whitaker definitely tested positive for cocaine last fall.

One of lawyer Pat English’s most persuasive arguments was that Whitaker did not test positive. English presented documents to WBA officials claiming that Whitaker tested below the threshold - a 143 on a test that required a 150 to be positive for cocaine.

But Hashim Othman, a manager at Quest Diagnostics, Inc., said English misread his lab’s numbers. Othman said the 143 was a percentage of the threshold - meaning that Whitaker tested 43 percent over the threshold for a positive result.

“This specimen does have a significant amount of cocaine above the cutoff,” Othman said.

Whitaker, who has maintained his innocence for the past four months, had no comment.