Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz has tested positive for PEDS (performance enhancing drugs) ahead of his world title fight with heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder.
The news broke after the WBC announced on the 29th September that they have ‘received confirmation from VADA [voluntary anti-doping association] that Luis Ortiz has tested positive for a banned substance’, again.
The Cuban heavyweight was the mandatory challenger for Anthony Joshua’s WBO belt and was due to fight Deontay Wilder for his WBC heavyweight championship on November 4th in what would have been one of the fights of the year. Ortiz and Wilder are both two undefeated fighters and have won 50 fights by knockout between them. With both fighter’s extreme power and attacking prowess, it was set to be a real mouth watering contest.
However ‘King Kong’ tested positive for diuretics chlorothiazide and hydrochlorothiazide. This drug is found mainly in heart medicines and Ortiz’ management was quick to highlight this on their Instagram, posting a picture of the fighters blood pressure tablets.
However, these specific substances are also used as masking agents for other steroids and banned substances. Ortiz has previously tested positive for steroids in 2014 so he was begged by Wilder ‘not to F*** it up this time please’.
Although nothing has been announced in terms of the punishment.However, the ‘Bronze Bomber’ [Deontay Wilder] insists that he will be fighting this November. It didn’t take long for the British heavyweight contender Dillian Whyte to offer his services and replace Ortiz in November’s heavyweight clash against the American champion at the Barclays centre in Brooklyn.
Speaking exclusively to ESPN Desportes, the WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman explained the current situation and what will happen with the title fight.
“So far regarding (the fight), we have not ruled in any way. The issue is being reviewed…. including the fact that there is the positive result that (Ortiz) had in 2014 (for nandrolone). The fact that there is a process in which you must declare absolutely everything that you are taking at the moment of registering in the [drug testing] program and the moment people arrive to draw blood or urine… there you have the obligation to put writing what you are taking
“We are in the process mentioned, we are waiting for [Ortiz] to answer the questionnaire that was sent and we will make the determination in a rapid manner because there is a fight scheduled in a few weeks. In this case, the Ortiz process has to be much faster because there is a scheduled fight (for November 4) and we have the responsibility to the fighters and the public,” told Sulaiman according to boxingscene.com.
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