By Jim Dower: Saul Canelo Alvarez is a victim of having eaten contaminated food tainted with clenbuterol, says WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman. He says clenbuterol is a big problem in Mexico, and it caused problems during 2011 for soccer team in the country with 109 players testing positive.
Suliaman expects the investigation into Canelo’s positive test to be wrapped up soon with an agreement to him tested more frequently as he trains for his rematch with IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin for their May 5th fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The thing that Sulaiman isn’t commenting on is how dramatically Canelo changed the way his physique looked from his fight with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in May of last year to the way it looked in the GGG fight. Canelo’s body looked like a different person. That’s one of the reasons why a lot of boxing fans believe that the positive clenbuterol test for Canelo wasn’t because of food contamination.
The fans think it’s a sign that Canelo was dabbling with PEDS to improve himself enough for to beat Golovkin. The timing of Canelo’s positive test is suspicious. Canelo didn’t test positive before his mismatches against Amir Khan, Julio Chavez Jr. and Liam Smith. He tested positive before his fight with GGG.
“Given that, Canelo has also been tested clean in many, many fights. Taking all of these facts, I believe it is another case of contamination from food,” Sulaiman said to the latimes.com. ”The time is sensitive. It would be my opinion it could easily take place with certain agreements of [increased] testing and assurances [from Alvarez].”
Canelo will likely be allowed to take the fight with GGG. The Nevada State Athletic Commission will point out that the level of the clenbuterol was low, and likely see that as a case of him having eaten continued food. However, if Canelo was cycling off of the clenbuterol in using it as a drug to help him prepare for the GGG rematch, then that would explain the low levels of the drug. Anything is possible.
It’s impossible to know how Canelo ended up with clenbuterol in his body. That’s one of the reasons why the Nevada Commission needs to make a rule change where any fighter that tests positive for clenbuterol or any other PED will be suspended regardless. If the Commission doesn’t create a hard rule that suspends everybody that tests positive for clenbuterol, then you’ll probably see cheaters saying they tested positive because they ate contaminated food. You can bet that if Canelo is allowed to escape punishment for his positive test for clenbuterol, then all fighters in the future will follow his lead and say, ‘I ate contaminated meat. I never used clenbuterol.’ The Nevada Commission would then need to clear everyone. It would be a joke. The Commission needs to come up with a hard rule that punishes everyone for positive tests for this drug otherwise you’ll have massive amounts of fighters using the same excuse Canelo is using by blaming their positive tests on contaminated meat.
What will be interesting is if Canelo still has clenbuterol in his system all the way up to the fight with GGG. If that’s the case, what does the Nevada Commission do? If Canelo says that the clenbuterol is slow in leaving his body, does the Commission let him fight Golovkin anyway? It’ll look really bad if that’s what happens. That’s why it’s important for the Commission to set a standard in which any positive test for clenbuterol or any other PED leads to a suspension. It’s not fair to Golovkin if he has to fight a guy that had tested positive for a performance enhancing drug DURING training camp. If this before training camp, then that’s one thing, but this during the camp. That’s what makes it so bad and so suspicious. Why is Canelo testing positive now during training camp.
VADA needs to make sure they’re testing both fighters for masking agents as well. They also need to make sure there are no diuretics used to drop weight.
Sulaiman and Canelo have patched up their differences, according to Lance Pugmire. Canelo will now be fighting for GGG’s WBC title instead of ignoring and vacating it if he beats him. That means Canelo could wind up being ordered to face WBC mandatory challenger Jermall Charlo if he beats GGG. Will Charlo take the fight with Charlo or vacate like he did in 2016 when he was ordered by the WBC to defend against then mandatory challenger Golovkin.