The issues connecting Fernando Vargas and Shane Mosley entering tonight's super welterweight rematch are strikingly similar, things such as declining skills and whether this is simply more about securing another payday than any legacy building device before each ventures into other weight classes.

Something else binds the fighters, sports' dirty little secret that isn't so private anymore.

Steroids.

Boxing has done a superb job over the years creating one controversy after another, but its image has for the most part escaped being overly stained by the presence of performance-enhancing drugs.

(By the way, if Gatorade is one -- as the Mosley camp ridiculously insists -- why do I look like this?)

If baseball is king of the juicing empire, boxing is a mere peasant hoping to remain somewhat silent out in the countryside.

Imagine that. Boxing has discovered a high moral ground on which to stand above other sports. Hell really has frozen over.

But for those who will engage in tonight's main event at the MGM Grand Garden, you have one fighter (Vargas) who tested positive for steroids and another (Mosley) who was called to testify in the BALCO scandal.

One who was caught cheating and another who had to pass a polygraph to help pacify mounting suspicion about his increase in size.

One we know took drugs and another who was apparently a client of the most shameful laboratory in sporting history.

"It was stupidity on my part,'' said Vargas, who was fined and suspended for nine months after testing positive following a title loss to Oscar De La Hoya in 2002. "I don't point the finger, because when you do that, three more point back. I'm the captain of my ship. I blame myself.''

In March 2005, state boxing officials estimated that of the hundreds of tests they administered, only a few returned positive. It's in large part because of a screening program that has become tough enough to clear most any shadow of doubt hovering over the sport. It's true -- the one thing more difficult than training for a fight actually might be beating the drug tests before and after it.

Example: Vargas and Mosley (along with four others on tonight's card) will be tested for steroids, stimulants and street drugs.

Just the other day, members of the Nevada Athletic Commission met to discuss how their procedures can become even stricter, how the use of more surprise tests a few days or weeks or even months from a fight could better deter potential users. Nevada was the first state to test for steroids and hasn't slacked in its pursuit of those who cheat.

"We not only want to just catch those using, but to steer away all those who might even think about it,'' said Keith Kizer, executive director of the commission. "Hey, we don't ban what is good for the body -- vitamins, protein, healthy things. Our main goal is to deter anyone from using drugs in the first place, a goal we will have for as long as the sport exists.

"It's important to have that element of surprise when we test. We'll have more of those (random) tests this year than we had last year, and we'll have more again next year. If you're not using, you don't have anything to worry about.''

Still, cheaters will emerge. They always do. Vargas tested positive for the steroid stanozolol, which causes strength increases without excess weight gain. It's also true that diuretics, which can help a fighter make weight, often serve as masking agents.

Want some irony?

The danger most presented a boxer on steroids hits right to the heart of his biggest fear -- a greater possibility of bleeding in the brain. It's a boxer's worst nightmare: subdural hematoma.

''It's a beautiful thing, the way the commission has tightened up testing,'' said De La Hoya, whose Golden Boy company is promoting Mosley. "It's the way it should be, testing right before and after fights. Test weeks and months before. Do it. You can definitely tell when someone is using. When you hit somebody 30 times in the head and he doesn't go anywhere, something is going on."

But how much of an advantage, really, do steroids afford in boxing? Opinions differ. There are some (De La Hoya) who see a major edge for anyone who cheats to become bigger, stronger and quicker. There are others (Mosley) who aren't as convinced.

"Boxing is as much a mental and technical sport as anything," Mosley said. "I think using steroids could really mess you up mentally. You would think you're stronger and you get very angry and are all messed up in your head and go for a quick knockout and become very tired early. It's just not conducive for a good boxer, a championship fighter. It's important boxing remains as clean as possible."

And leave the corruption to other sports for once.

You know, like baseball.

Ed Graney's column is published Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. He can be reached at 383-4618 or egraney@reviewjournal.com.