Golden Boy Promotions released a statement confirming traces of the banned substance in a sample, pledging to do everything the governing bodies ask in order to keep his fight with Gennady Golovkin alive.
Canelo and four-belt middleweight king Golovkin are due to fight on May 5 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, although the only man in possession of another title at 160 pounds wants the Mexican thrown out.
“Canelo, you’re a drug cheat, you can’t bulk like that. GGG, let’s fight Borat,” said Saunders likening the Kazakh to the character portrayed by Sacha Baron Cohen.
It’s nothing unusual for Saunders to use his brash persona in order to potentially seal a massive fight as the Briton has been calling both Canelo and Golovkin out for years.
Saunders battles Martin Murray on April 14, and provided all goes well with the title defense, the Hatfield man will be in line to meet the winner around September time.
Due to Canelo’s current circumstances, Saunders would seemingly be willing to replace the two-weight world champion and take a fight in Las Vegas on Cinco de Mayo weekend.
As things currently stand, and judging by the reactions of both Gilberto Mendoza of the WBA and WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman, Canelo will be given the benefit of the doubt for the Golovkin PPV offering as testing restrictions are tightened.
Even if the worst happened and Canelo faced a suspension, Golovkin would be likely to scrap the Nevada plan and possibly move any unification with Saunders to New York City.
The next few days could be all important for Canelo, whose reputation has taken something of a battering over the last 24 hours.
