The WBA Heavyweight title bout between Manuel Charr and Fres Oquendo is off after Charr tested positve for a banned substance, according to Dan Rafael of espn.com.
“This letter is to advise you that Mr. Manual Charr’s ‘A’ sample urine specimen number 4256987 collected on August 31, 2018 in Cologne, Germany through his participation in the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) program has been analyzed for anabolic agents, diuretics, beta-2 agonists, stimulants, IRMS, EPO, and drugs of abuse. The results of the analysis are as follows: Adverse. Urine specimen number 4256987: epitrenbolone and drostanolone metabolites detected,” VADA said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by ESPN.
“The message came that I tested positive. My manager, Christian Hunter, and my promoter, Bernd Trendelburg, have cancelled the fight without informing me before or contacting me. I am very disappointed in this approach,” Charr said in a statement. “I can’t explain the result, but I will do anything to solve it. I am now waiting for the result of the ‘B’ sample and I have once again undergone an independent and voluntary doping test. The results are expected to be published on Saturday.
“I have always been clean in all the fighting, and I can therefore definitely not explain how this result. I’m in shock myself, dear fans, especially as I’m in the final (stages) of the fight preparation. The defense of the championship has been my life for months. I am preparing for this fight with great discipline. During my (training) I take various supplements. It will be examined whether the food supplements may have influenced the doping sample.”
“The WBA should do the right thing and crown me champion,” Oquendo said in a statement provided to ESPN. “I shouldn’t be punished for something I’m doing right, which is not cheating.”
“We have read reports that Charr’s promoter has canceled the fight following Charr’s positive doping test. Except for the VADA letter, we have not heard anything official,” Square Ring CEO John Wirt, who co-promotes Oquendo with Bobby Hitz, told ESPN. “Obviously, if the fight is canceled it will be another injustice in a long line of huge disappointments in Fres’ path to fight for the WBA (‘regular’) heavyweight title.”
