Alvarez cancels Golovkin rematch over doping row

SAUL “Canelo” Alvarez withdrew from his rematch against middleweight rival Gennady Golovkin over his failed drugs test but is optimistic the fight can be rescheduled later this year.

At a press conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Alvarez’s promoters Golden Boy said the likely suspension for the failed tests made it impossible to stage the May 5 bout in Las Vegas.

“We’re going to have to cancel the May 5 rematch,” Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez said. “We’ve been advised that given the regulations in Nevada it’s unlikely that Canelo will be cleared to fight in May.

“We’re hoping that Canelo will be cleared to fight in the summer, allowing us to reschedule the fight in August or September.”

Insisting he was “clean”, Alvarez — already under suspension from the Nevada State Athletic Commission — said: “I am truly shocked about what has happened, and for those who have doubts and suspicions about my integrity I have always been and always will be a clean fighter.”

Alvarez and Golovkin fought to a controversial draw in their first meeting in Las Vegas last September, a fight most neutrals believed unified champion Golovkin had won.

Their rematch at the T-Mobile Arena next month was expected to be one of the biggest fights of 2018 but was thrown into doubt after it emerged Alvarez had tested positive for Clenbuterol on February 17 and 20.

Alvarez and Golden Boy had steadfastly denied any wrongdoing, saying the drug had entered the fighter’s system inadvertently through contaminated meat in his native Mexico.

The fight was initially expected to go ahead but was placed in jeopardy when the Nevada commission temporarily suspended Alvarez on March 23 and set a hearing date for April 10.