(Photo credit: Casino/Showtime) By Dan Ambrose: 36-year-old Erik Morale’s USADA drug test has picked up “Irregularities” according to Chris Mannix from Sports Illustrated. Mannix says Morales’ fight against WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia is still on for now.

Mannix said “Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer tells Sports Illustrated he’s been informed by the USADA that there was some irregularities in Erik Morale’s test…USADA has started the evaluation process. As of now, the fight with Danny Garcia is still on.”

There reportedly waiting for a second test result to be confirmed. If this too turns up positive that you can expect the worst. Perhaps the first test sample there was an error in the test, which could be cleared up by the second test sample.

Hopefully, Golden Boy Promotions has a backup plan to use if Morales isn’t able to take the fight because of the test results. Garcia is ready to fight and is the main event on the card. I’m sure boxing fans won’t mind having the Paulie Malignaggi vs. Pablo Cesar Cano fight moved to the main event, but it just doesn’t have the same weight that a Garcia-Morales does because Cano isn’t well known and is expected to get easily handled by Malignaggi.

In other words, the main event fight could turn into a dull mismatch between the 23-year-old Cano, who has a tendency to bleed easily when hit, and the much more experienced 31-year-old Malignaggi. The card also has Peter Quillin vs. Hassan N’Jikam N’Dam, Daniel Jacobs, Randall Bailey vs. Devon Alexander. The card definitely will do well if Morales-Garcia fight gets cancelled because of the drug test results.

This would be a real pity if Morales tests positive on the second test because he’s had such a great career and this thing would taint it potentially in the eyes of some boxing fans. Morales had talked about wanting to fight one more time even if he loses the fight on Saturday. It would be sad if he had to deal with a suspension instead of getting this fight, because he Morales really wants to show boxing fans that he’s better than Garcia.

*** Update ***

According to ESPN, Morales tested positive for the weight loss drug clenbuterol in his sample A. His second sample won’t be available until after the fight on Saturday, hence the fight will be allowed to go ahead despite Morales’ positive drug test. It’s convenient for all.

Morales failed to make weight for his fight with Danny Garcia last March and ended up losing his WBC title on the scales.