Canelo Alvarez tests positive for performance-enhancing drug ahead of Gennady Golovkin fight

Boxer Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has tested positive for a banned anti-fat drug ahead of his upcoming mega-fight — and is blaming Mexican meat.

According to a statement posted Monday by his promoter, a recent Alvarez test ahead of his May 5 fight against Gennady Golovkin had trace amounts of Clenbuterol.

Golden Boy Promotions said in its statement that the trace levels are “consistent with meat contamination that has impacted dozens of athletes in Mexico over the last years.” But as a result, the promoter said, Alvarez will move his training camp from his native Mexico to the U.S.

“These values are all within the range of what is expected from meat contamination,” the statement quoted Daniel Eichner, director of the lab that conducted the tests, as saying. 

Clenbuterol allows an athlete to drop fat pounds without losing muscle — a valuable thing for a fighter who must make weight. It is banned by every anti-doping convention.

Alvarez has no history of failing drug tests and he said he will submit to any and all further testing necessary to ensure that the Cinco de Mayo fight, set for Las Vegas, will go forward as scheduled.

“I will submit to all the tests that require me to clarify this embarrassing situation and I trust that at the end the truth will prevail,” Alvarez said.

There was no immediate word on whether this failed test, which hadn’t been officially reported until Golden Boy announced it, will jeopardize the fight with Golovkin.

Golden Boy said it had notified the Nevada State Athletic Commission and Tom Loeffler, Golovkin’s promoter.

The two men, each of whom holds pieces of the middleweight title and is a plausible contender for best pound-for-fighter in the world, fought last year, but it ended in a heavily criticized 12-round draw.

One recent Alvarez opponent quickly commented. Liam Smith fought Alvarez in 2016 and was knocked out in the ninth round from a body shot, after having also been down in the seventh and getting the worst of it for most of the fight.

“I want my loss overturned, I should still be champion,” he posted on Twitter, likely with his tongue in his cheek.

He acknowledged in another tweet that he was joking and that Alvarez is “unbelievable fighter, but now a cheating basterd, just wonder how long it’s been going on for, don’t you.”