THE Nevada State Athletic Commission decided to hand Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez a six month ban from the sport, at a hearing Wednesday.
Alvarez failed two drug tests administered by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association in February, with traces of banned substance clenbuterol being detected. Alvarez maintained the result was inadvertent and came from eating contaminated beef in Mexico. However he withdrew from his rematch with Gennady Golovkin that had been scheduled for May 5 in Las Vegas. Golovkin will fight on that same date in California now (he announced his opponent).
The ruling from the athletic commission now means that Canelo would be able to rematch Golovkin in September of this year.
In a statement Golden Boy, Canelo’s promoters, said: “As we have maintained all along, the trace amounts of clenbuterol found in Canelo’s system in February came from meat contamination, and we provided the Nevada State Athletic Commission with a great deal of evidence to support those facts.
“Although most professional sports, international anti-doping agencies and United States boxing commissions treat meat contamination differently from other positive tests, Nevada does not. Canelo and Golden Boy Promotions respect the rules of Nevada and are therefore satisfied with the settlement agreement reached today.
“Canelo looks forward to returning to the ring in September for Mexican Independence Day weekend to represent Mexico and boxing in what will be the sport’s biggest event of the year. He is ready to continue his remarkable record of fighting at the highest level.”
