Mexican pro boxer Canelo Alvarez tested positive for performance enhancing drugs this week. The test was voluntary, but revealed he had a significant amount of Clenbuterol in his system.
Clenbuterol is a pretty serious substance and banned around the world. It’s usually used as a stimulant and helps athletes cut weight fast.
But Canelo’s not going down without a fight. He claims the substance was probably hidden in some kind of bad Mexican meat — as he would never purposefully dope. And his boxing firm Golden Boy Promotions is backing him up on it. They called the levels “consistent with meat contamination that has impacted dozens of athletes in Mexico over the last years.”
BREAKING: Canelo Alvarez has tested positive for trace levels of Clenbuterol. Fight still on with GGG.
Statement from Golden Boy: pic.twitter.com/NdEQAlN4ZQ
— Against The Ropes (@ATRboxinguk) March 5, 2018
Alvarez released his own statement alongside Golden Boy’s, saying, “I am an athlete who respects the sport and this surprises me and bothers me because it had never happened to me. I will submit to all the tests that require me to clarify this embarrassing situation and I trust that at the end the truth will prevail.”
He’s also going to be moving immediately from Mexico to a US training facility where there’s hopefully cleaner meat. His May 5 fight against Kazakstani boxer Gennady Golovkin is still on, so far now it looks like Alvarez is in the clear. This story is pretty wild, no matter how you slice it. Either Canelo is lying about taking PEDs or he’s eating some extremely sketchy meat. I’ve never seen the cows in Mexico but if they’re that roided up, this country’s even more of a dump than I thought before.