By Jim Dower: The Nevada State Athletic Commission will be conducting a hearing on Wednesday for the two positive tests for clenbuterol for Mexican star Saul Canelo Alvarez in Las Vegas. The clenbuterol in Canelo’s two positive tests were said to have been at low levels, the type that would be seen for someone that had eaten contaminated beef, which is what his excuse is.
Canelo had knee surgery last weekend, and he’s not expected to be present to speak with the Nevada Commission in person. He’ll instead talk to them on the phone.
Canelo has tested negative for PEDs since March. He’s tested positive twice for the banned substance clenbuterol during his 13-year pro career.
Canelo will have his work cut out for him in trying to prove his innocence in speaking to the Nevada Commission. Canelo and his lawyer are expected to talk about the problem that clenbuterol is in Mexico with ranchers using it on their cattle. Canelo will likely try and prove where he purchased the tainted beef.
He says he consumed contaminated beef. The Nevada Commission is still expected to suspend Canelo retroactively from his first positive test for clenbuterol on February 17. Although Canelo could get a stiff 1-year suspension by the Commission, it’ll likely be reduced to just 6 months, which really comes out to be a 4-month suspension. That’s like a slap on the wrist.
The reason the suspension will likely be reduced to six months is because this is the first time that Canelo has tested positive for a performance enhancing drug. The presumed 6-month suspension for Canelo will end in August. He will then likely face Gennady Golovkin in September on the Mexican holiday on HBO PPV.
We’ll have to see whether Canelo chooses to continue to fight in Las Vegas. There’s no telling how he’ll react to being given a suspension by the Nevada Commission. If Canelo decides not to fight in Nevada any longer, then his promoters will likely move his fights to Texas, a state in which he’s very popular.
Canelo will miss his rematch with IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin on May 5, but he can still face him in five months from now in September. One thing that will work in Canelo’s favor with the suspension is that the 36-year-old Golovkin will age a little bit more. It’s believed by some that Canelo chose to age Golovkin by not fighting him three years ago when he was 33 and knocking his opposition out left and right.
Golovkin wants to face Canelo again despite the fact that he tested positive twice for the performance enhancing substance while training for his rematch with him on May 5. Their fight last September was ruled a draw, but Golovkin, his team and most boxing fans believe that he won that fight.
Golovkin is not happy with the way the fight was scored by the Nevada State Athletic Commission assigned judges. The scoring was peculiar with one judge giving Canelo the victory by a 10 rounds to 2 score, and another judge scoring it a 6-6 draw. That judge gave Canelo round 7, which was a round that he did not do well at all.
What’s unclear is whether the Nevada Commission will order testing for Canelo to be done until his next fight or if the testing will only be done during training camp before his next fight, which is expected to be against Golovkin. If Canelo is only going to be tested during the training camp, then there’s no way of knowing whether he’s clean or not during the months leading up to training camp.
Canelo pulled out of his May 5th fight with Golovkin a little over a week ago. There wasn’t enough time to market the fight with GGG.