This means, the Championships Committee of the World Boxing Association have stripped Browne of is heavyweight title and suspended him for six months, in accordance with the rules of the organization.
Browne won his WBA belt after winning by TKO in the tenth against the then champion Ruslan Chagaev in March. However, the title will not be returned to its former owner after he revealed his intention not to return to the ring when announcing his retirement following the fight.
Should he decide to return to the ring, Chagaev will have 120 days to negotiate a fight with Fres Oquendo, who by court order in the United States, is entitled to this confrontation. But if Chagaev decides to stay away, Cuban Luis Ortiz and Russian Alexander Ustinov would fight for the vacant regular heavyweight and then the mandatory against Oquendo.
Browne was only suspended for six months because in a previous test earlier that week he was negative. After the combat with Chagaev, he showed the prohibited substance he tested positive for, which was Clenbuterol.
However, although the WBA believe there was no intention to infringe the rules by the boxer, we recognise that Browne and his team are responsible for what the fighter eats or ingests before a world title fight.
