By Miguel Rivera
World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman has a big smile on his face from ear to ear - because he took a lot of heat from the critics for his aggressive support towards Mexican superstar Saul "Canelo" Alvarez in the last few weeks.
Back in February, Canelo tested positive for the banned substance clenbuterol in two separate drug tests.
Because of the testing controversy, Canelo was forced to withdraw from his May 5th rematch with unified middleweight champion Gennady "GGG" Golovkin.
A week after his withdrawal, Canelo was suspended for six months by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
Canelo will be able to fight again by August.
The Mexican star has gone through several drug tests in the last few weeks, including a very complex hair follicle test, and walked away with negative results.
Based on those statistics, Sulaiman says it's very clear that Canelo was the victim of eating contaminated meat.
Canelo has maintained that he inadvertently ingested contaminated meat during his training camp in Mexico.
"It gives me great pleasure to resolve this situation... that the physical, medical, and technological tests are providing the result that the World Boxing Council and I personally, from day one, was pursuing - that justice was served towards the athlete, towards the boxer, towards the human being," Sulaiman said.
"Right now the fight [with Golovkin] is lost, but hopefully it will be rescued by September. We must understand that there is a problem with this substance (clenbuterol) in Mexico, we are already looking for WADA to reach an agreement with a new protocol, and that the athletes know and be much more careful [with what they eat]. The anti-doping system is 365 days, so at any time, someone in Mexico who trains there, who lives there or someone who is visiting may have a problem."
2023-10-20 23:26:21
