NEW WBA heavyweight boxing champion Lucas Browne, of Australia, was floored yesterday when it was revealed that he failed a drugs test after winning the belt.
Former mixed martial artist Browne, 36, was knocked down in the sixth round, but came back to stop Uzbekistan’s Ruslan Chagaev in the 10th round to win the title in Grozny in Chechnya, Russia, earlier this month.
Browne has said he is shocked and devastated by the news that he has tested positive for clenbuterol, and will fight to clear his name, with manager and promoter, former world champion Ricky Hatton, pledging to support him and suggesting foul play.
“I would like to assure all fans, the whole of the boxing world and all of Australia that I am not a drug user or a drug cheat,” said Browne.
“I will fight for as long as it takes to clear my name. I have never heard of the drug clenbuterol and had no idea what it is used for.
“I am now aware that it is essentially a weight-stripping drug and as a heavyweight boxer, the idea of me using it is utterly ridiculous.
A statement from management team Hatton Promotions said: “Ricky Hatton and Hatton Promotions were made aware on Monday night that Lucas Browne delivered a positive A sample drug test following his world title win over Ruslan Chagaev.
“We believe strongly that boxing should be free from performance enhancing drugs. We believe Lucas Browne to be a clean athlete who arrived in Chechnya a clean athlete.
“We are therefore conducting our own further investigation and cannot comment further at this time.”
The clear implication by Hatton is that the test was interfered with.
Browne himself said: “My team and I were well aware of the many risks involved in going to a place like Chechnya to fight a reigning champion, and believed we had taken sufficient precautions. In addition, it was at our insistence that the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association testing was implemented for the fight.”
He now faces a difficult battle to overturn his A-sample finding – very few athletes have been cleared of using Clenbuterol by the testing of a B-sample.
Clenbuterol, although a weight-loss drug of choice for many celebrities, increases aerobic capacity and the World Anti-Doping Authority says: ‘There is no threshold under which Clenbuterol is not prohibited.’
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