Mexican boxer Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez, suspended for six months after testing positive for clenbuterol in February, tested negative in his last doping test, according to the Nevada Athletic Commission.
“Canelo”, who was to fight Kazakh Gennady Golovkin on May 5 in Las Vegas, said then that his positive was due to the consumption of contaminated meat in his country but the Nevada Commission decided to suspend him for six months.
The Aztec then underwent tests on his hair at the request of the Commission, since clenbuterol leaves traces in that area for much longer than in urine, and the examination, carried out in the Laboratory of Testing and Research of Medicine Deportiva, an WADA-accredited laboratory in Utah, would have been negative, executive director Bob Bennett told ESPN.
‘Hair sample tested for clenbuterol. Clenbuterol was not detected “, specifies the document delivered to the aforementioned media.
“We started the test to make it as complete as possible, but we know that it is very difficult, according to the experts. It is a difficult process to be able to confirm if there is clenbuterol in the hair follicles, but I spoke to (SMRTL president and lab director) Dr. (Michael) Eichner and he said they would do the test even though it is more difficult to run in the light colored hair. But we sent them the samples and the tests came back negative, “he added to ESPN.
– Contaminated meat –
El ‘Canelo’ tested positive for clenbuterol on two occasions, on February 17 and 20, when he voluntarily underwent tests while preparing his rematch with Golovkin.
Clenbuterol is an anabolic drug that is used to increase the weight or muscle mass of an organism.
Golovkin and Alvarez met last September, with a controversial draw as a result that did not satisfy either of them.
Scores were 118-110 for ‘Canelo’, 115-113 for Golovkin and 114-114.
“As we have always maintained, the clenbuterol remains found in Canelo’s body in February come from contaminated meat and we gave the Nevada Commission a large number of corroborating tests,” Alvarez’s promoter Golden Boy responded two weeks ago. , it’s a statement.
The 27-year-old fighter was facing a one-year suspension but was cut in half by Nevada authorities for his cooperation with authorities.
Golovkin never believed his rival’s version.
«’Canelo’ is cheating. They’re using those drugs and everyone pretends like it’s not happening. And you keep asking about the meat? It has nothing to do with meat, “the 35-year-old Kazakh man told AFP at his Big Bear camp, east of Los Angeles, last March, when he was preparing his revenge with the Mexican.
Following the suspension of «Canelo», Golovkin, the WBC, WBA and IBF middleweight champion, with an immaculate scorecard of 37 wins, no losses and a draw, will face Armenian-American Vanes Martirosyan on 5 May at the StubHub Center in Los Angeles. AFP