By Brant Burke: In a shock revelation, Lucas Browne has been stripped of his WBA title after his B test was analyzed by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) and came back positive.
World Boxing Association have stripped Browne of is heavyweight title and suspended him for six months.
Browne won the WBA heavyweight title after stopping Ruslan Chagaev in the 10th round in March of this year in Chechnya. This now means Chagaev can now fight for the title he lost to Browne, however after the defeat, he retired from boxing.
Should Chagaev decide to return to the ring, he will have 120 days to negotiate a fight with Fres Oquendo. But if Chagaev decides to stay away, Cuban Luis Ortiz (25-0, 22 ko) and Russian Alexander Ustinov (33-1, 24ko) would fight for the vacant ‘regular’ heavyweight and then the mandatory against Oquendo. This would at least rule out the need for an ‘’interim’ champ.
Although the WBA believe there was no intention to infringe the rules by Browne, they recognize that Browne and his team are responsible for what the fighter eats or ingests before a world title fight.
Given that Browne is only suspended for six months, I along with the boxing community would like to see Browne have the opportunity to fight for the WBA title again after his suspension. Which would be either the winner of Wladimir Klitschko – Tyson Fury or Luis Ortiz – Alexander Ustinov.
Lucas Browne or Hatton Promotions are yet to release a statement.