Alberto Puello has tested positive for the banned substance clomifene in a VADA drugs test.
Boxing fans will no doubt remember that this is the same PED (performance-enhancing drug) which Conor Benn twice tested positive for last year, causing his fight with Chris Eubank Jr to be scrapped.
Esther Lin/SHOWTIME
Puello won the WBA super-lightweight world title in his last fight against Botirzhon Akhmedov in August.
It was recently announced that the 21-0 Dominican boxer would make his first defence against Rolly Romero on May 13.
However, he has now returned a positive VADA drugs test during training camp.
According to BoxingScene, he is ‘expected to be stripped’ of that belt as a consequence for his positive test, though the WBA are yet to officially confirm this.
It’s claimed that Romero will instead face Ismael Barroso for the vacant belt.
With Benn’s situation, a very different and far less straightforward situation has taken place.
Mark Robinson/Matchroom
While his planned fight with Eubank Jr last year was ultimately cancelled, Benn initially refused to co-operate with the UKAD (UK Anti-Doping) investigation into his positive tests due to a feud with the BBBofC (British Boxing Board of Control).
The Brit instead co-operated with the separate WBC investigation into his positive drugs tests, which never held the power to ban him, only to remove him from their rankings.
When the WBC ultimately made their ruling and chose to reinstate Benn into their welterweight top 15, he rejected their reasoning.
The sanctioning body dismissed Benn’s claims of lab errors and instead suggested a highly elevated consumption of eggs could have been the cause of his positive tests for clomifene.
Ian Walton/Matchroom
Benn refuted this, but announced plans to return to the ring on June 3 regardless.
The BBBofC then intervened and insisted that anybody who holds a licence with them could face sanctions for involvement in a Benn fight, even if it takes place overseas, because they see the situation as unresolved and will not allow him to box in the UK at present.
In the latest update on the situation, UKAD have provisionally suspended him and he has started to co-operate with their investigation.
Benn said in a statement this week: “I can’t comment on anything to do with UKAD other than to say that I am in touch with them.
“Someone at the BBBofC or UKAD obviously wanted to create a headline unlike the [Amir] Khan case where it was kept quiet for 14 months but this is nothing new. I remain free to fight outside the UK.”