If you didn’t hear a peep during the Shane Mosley-Ricardo Mayorga fight on HBO last September about BALCO, particularly Mosley’s involvement with them, you weren’t alone. Don’t expect it to happen again.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News says that there will be plenty of Balco discussion during this weekend’s telecast of Mosley’s fight with Antonio Margarito.

Raissman quotes HBO Sports’ head honcho Ross Greenburg as saying that it was a mistake by the production crew that BALCO was nowhere in sight in Mosley’s last fight, and he is sure to not let it happen again.

Greenburg told Raissman,

“We just missed the boat (on the BALCO issue during Mosley-Mayorga). It was one of those rare occasions where our production people just spaced out, maybe because it wasn’t that much in the news.”

Greenburg expressed regret that the story wasn’t prominent in the broadcast of the Mosley-Mayorga fight and Raissman insists that that means it will be prominent in the Mosley-Margarito broadcast.

Why? How about journalistic integrity. If anyone has it, it’s HBO.

Said Greenburg:

“Look, I don’t give a damn about that (business relationships). I don’t care about that. I don’t care about doing business with any of these guys (promoters) unless they understand we have a responsibility – journalistically – to the viewer.”

Mosley ended up in the middle of the BALCO controversy, in which he admitted to taking performance enhancing drugs. Mosley told a federal prosecutor that

“he injected himself with erythropoietin to boost his endurance. He also admitted that he applied a topical cream that contained steroids, as well as using a designer steroid THG, which he indicated he knew was not flaxseed oil.”

Mosley’s doping scandal took place prior to his 2003 fight with Oscar De La Hoya, and has followed him around since.

HBO attempted to interview Mosley for the broadcast this week, but at the last minute, Mosley’s lawyers decided that the court is the only place for Shane to tell this story.

Mosley’s attorney has said that he fully expects HBO to bash Mosley throughout the broadcast, particularly for not cooperating with their story and doing an interview.

This should be interesting viewing, for both the fight, and the story that is told throughout the night.