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Boxing Star Tests Positive, Fight Canceled!
3 Dec
Summary
- Janibek Alimkhanuly failed a pre-fight drug test.
- His middleweight unification bout against Erislandy Lara is canceled.
- Meldonium, a banned performance-enhancing drug, is the substance found.
The highly anticipated middleweight unification bout between Janibek Alimkhanuly and Erislandy Lara, slated for Saturday, has been dramatically canceled after Alimkhanuly returned a positive test for a banned substance. The World Boxing Organisation (WBO) was notified by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (Vada) of the Kazakh fighter's adverse analytical finding.
Reports indicate the banned substance is meldonium, a performance-enhancer prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) since 2016. Alimkhanuly, holder of the IBF and WBO middleweight titles, has requested a secondary test of his 'B' sample, expressing shock at the results. He maintains his support for clean sports and questioned the discrepancy with an initial clean test.
Alimkhanuly has been replaced in the fight by Johan Gonzalez. The 32-year-old Alimkhanuly boasts an undefeated professional record of 17 wins, while the veteran Lara, 42, holds the WBA title and has 31 wins in his career. Gonzalez, 34, has a professional record of 36 wins from 40 bouts.
