Canelo Alvarez Suspended Six Months By NSAC For Failed Drug Tests

Canelo Alvarez has been suspended for six months by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for testing positive for clenbuterol.

The commission has given the Mexican boxer the suspension for failing two February tests in Mexico for the banned substance, meaning he will not be able to fight until August 17 which is when the suspension is scheduled to end. The commission unanimously voted to hand Alvarez a six-month suspension during a hearing on April 18.

Alvarez was supposed to fight unified middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin on May 5 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, but then failed the two drug tests, the first of which took place on February 17. Alvarez blamed his positive test on eating contaminated meat. The NSAC then did an investigation on Alvarez’s suspension, telling Fightful in March that the levels of clenbuterol in Alvarez’s system were in the range of someone eating contaminated meat.

The rematch between Golovkin and Alvarez could still fight later this year when Alvarez’s suspension is up. After Alvarez withdrew from the fight in early April, Golovkin found another opponent in Vanes Martirosyan. That fight will take place at the StubHub Center in California on May 5 and will be televised on HBO.

Alvarez briefly returned to Mexico recently in order to undergo surgery to remove a cyst in his right knee, meaning he did not participate in the hearing in person and was present by telephone. Alvarez had been temporarily suspended by the NSAC until the April 18 hearing and could have faced a one-year suspension for the positive tests. The suspension was reduced to six months as Alvarez and Golden Boy Promotions, the company who promotes Alvarez, cooperated with the commission throughout the investigation. The suspension handed to Alvarez is retroactive to the date of the first test.