The latest chapter in the Canelo Alvarez saga could end up being more bad news for his upcoming middleweight superfight against Gennady Golovkin on May 5 in Las Vegas.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission, who temporarily suspended Alvarez, delayed a hearing with the Mexican boxer that was originally scheduled to take place on April 10 and will now take place on April 18. That hearing will determine whether or not Alvarez's suspension for failing two drug tests for traces of clenbuterol will end or resume, putting the fight against Golovkin in jeopardy.
In addition to the change, the commission has filed a complaint as reported by Kevin Iole against Alvarez, saying that "Alvarez’s utilization, ingestion and/or consumption of Clenbuterol, whether intentional or not, constitutes an anti-doping violation."
Bob Bennett, the executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, released the following statement on the matter. A preliminary hearing was supposed to happen on March 30, but now Alvarez's fate will likely be determined on the April 18 meeting.
"After completing my investigation, I made the determination to file a complaint against Mr. Alvarez and set the matter for a disciplinary hearing during the Commission's regularly scheduled meeting on April 18th. Therefore, I am canceling the hearing that was scheduled for Friday, March 30th."
With the fight in serious jeopardy, a number of boxers have offered to fight in Alvarez's place for May 5. Demetrius Andrade offered his services to be Golovkin's opponent. Sergiy Derevyanchenko, who is the mandatory challenger to the IBF middleweight world title that Golovkin currently holds, is also available to fight, according to promoter Lou DiBella.
So far, there are no undercard fights announced for the May 5 event from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The fight is currently scheduled to headline an HBO pay-per-view, but if Alvarez is ruled ineligible to fight Golovkin and a replacement opponent is given for Golovkin, there is no telling if the fight will continue as an HBO pay-per-view event or be shown on HBO television.
There were also talks of WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders potentially stepping in, but promoter Frank Warren said he doesn't think that fight will happen on May 5 because Saunders is currently recovering from a hand injury and is scheduled to defend his title against Martin Murray later this year. Saunders had been trying to get a fight with Golovkin, who currently holds the WBA "super," WBC, IBF and IBO middleweight titles, since 2016.
Alvarez failed two drug tests in February for traces of clenbuterol. Since then, Alvarez has passed all of his tests, but the commission still continued with an investigation. Earlier in March, Bennett would not comment whether or not the fight was in jeopardy when Bennett talked to Fightful.
The first fight between the two boxers, which took place at the T-Mobile Arena on September 16, ended in a controversial draw. As such, Golovkin retained his unified middleweight titles while Alvarez retained his Ring Magazine and lineal middleweight titles. The first fight did more than a million buys on pay-per-view with the live gate being the third-highest for a boxing fight in the history of Nevada.
