After receiving much criticism for not taking part in a drugs testing program after his suspension, Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez has taken the first step forward in order to restore his reputation as a clean fighter. The Mexican superstar finally announced his enrollment in a year-round drug testing program supervised by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association [VADA] on Tuesday.
Para informarles que acabo de firmar el contrato con @Vada_Testing para pruebas durante todo el año.
I want to let you know that I just signed the contract with @Vada_Testing for year round testing.
— Canelo Alvarez (@Canelo) May 15, 2018
“I want to let you know that I just signed the contract with @Vada_testing for year round testing,” wrote Alvarez on Twitter.
Alvarez was scheduled to face Gennady Golovkin in their anticipated rematch on May 5th in Las Vegas, but the mega-fight did not come to fruition after the Mexican World champion tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs twice. ‘Canelo’ and his representatives blamed contaminated Mexican meat that allegedly had traces of clenbuterol, a banned substance.
However, with Canelo receiving only a six-month ban for his positive drugs tests, the rematch against Golovkin is potential for September 15 and the recent VADA enrollment is expected to remove additional roadblocks out of the way.
Canelo just signed contract to year round VADA testing.
— Oscar De La Hoya (@OscarDeLaHoya) May 15, 2018
“This is good news. This is voluntary and Canelo is paying for the testing out of his own pocket because he wants to prove to his fans that he is a clean fighter. Any time they want to test him he will make himself available. … Canelo is doing this because he is listening to his fans. The criticism will always be there, but he decided to listen and prove to everyone that he is clean,” said Canelo’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya according to ESPN.
De La Hoya confirms he is already in talks with Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler and hopes to get a deal done while Alvarez waits for his ban to end in mid-August.
“We’ve started discussions with Tom. We want to make the fight happen and this is another step in the right direction. Every top fighter should be tested by VADA on a year-round basis. That’s the only way to clean up the sport.
“Hopefully, we can make the fight. … These guys, Canelo and GGG, sure don’t like each other now. If the fight happens in September it will be that much better of a fight. Now there really is bad blood. It will be a hell of a fight if it happens in September, but regardless Canelo will be fighting in September.
“This is a huge step, a major hurdle we have cleared. There are no excuses whatsoever. GGG wants the fight, Canelo wants this fight, so let’s just get past this and move forward and give the fans the fight they want to see again.”