Kazakhstan’s middleweight world boxing champion Zhanibek Alimkhanuly is at the center of a doping controversy just days before his most important match - a unification bout for three championship titles against Cuba’s Erislandy Lara.
A positive test for the banned substance meldonium has put his career at risk and could cost him at least one of his two belts, The Caspian Post reports, citing The Times of Central Asia.
The 29 year-old currently holds the WBO and IBF middleweight titles. He was awarded the WBO belt in 2022 after Demetrius Andrade declined to face him and secured the IBF title in 2023 with a knockout win over Germany’s Vincenzo Gualtieri. Alimkhanuly had since declared his ambition to become the undisputed champion by unifying all the major middleweight belts. His bout with Lara, the WBA titleholder, was scheduled for December 7 and was seen as a crucial step toward that goal.
However, on Tuesday evening, news emerged that Alimkhanuly had tested positive for meldonium, a substance banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) since 2016. Studies cited by WADA in 2015 indicated that meldonium enhances endurance, accelerates recovery, and impacts the central nervous system.
Under the rules of the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA), Alimkhanuly has 10 days to request analysis of the “B” sample. Regardless, the fight with Lara has been canceled. The Cuban boxer has already agreed to a new matchup against Venezuelan fighter Johan Gonzalez.
The World Boxing Organization (WBO) announced it had initiated administrative proceedings and would allow Alimkhanuly’s team to present evidence.
“The WBO anti-doping program operates on the principle of strict liability… the athlete is fully responsible for the substances found in his body,” WBO President Gustavo Olivieri said on social media platform X.
Alimkhanuly’s team expressed shock at the test results and has called for a retest.
“The reason for our surprise is that we first received information about a clean sample, and then about a controversial moment in the second one. We didn’t change anything between tests, neither diet nor vitamins. We cannot understand how this could have happened,” the team stated.
They confirmed that lawyers and independent experts are now involved, and that testing of the “B” sample is underway.
The scandal marks the second high-profile doping case in Central Asian boxing within a short span. Olympic champion Lazizbek Mullojonov of Uzbekistan was recentl handed a three-year suspension for violating anti-doping regulations.
