Just a few weeks before his scheduled title defense against Rolando Romero, Alberto Puello’s world was turned upside down. Now his team will look to clear his name.
The WBA super lightweight champion will sit and watch as Romero faces Ismael Barroso for the status of interim champion on May 13. It is a result of a failed drug test on the side of Puello. Showtime will air the fight inside The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
Turning pro in 2015, Puello won the interim WBA super lightweight title against Jonathan Alonso. He defended the belt twice and was supposed to fight undisputed super lightweight champion Josh Taylor. When negotiations failed, Taylor got stripped of the WBA title, and Puello beat Batyr Akhmedov to win the belt. Now, it is expected his reign will be a short one.
Here’s a breakdown of Puello’s failed drug test and his team’s response.
MORE: What you need to know about Rolando Romero vs. Ismael Barroso
Alberto Puello's failed drug test, explained
In April 2023, Puello's A-sample revealed findings of, per Boxing Scene, the performance-enhancing drug clomiphene and its M1 and M2 metabolites. The Voluntary Anti-Doping Association administered the test.
"We're going through due process," WBA President Gilberto Mendoza told ESPN. "We're going to listen to Puello's arguments and let him disclose all the information. We'll send all his information to the medical and legal committee, and then we'll come back with an answer regarding his status as champion."
Clomiphene is the substance Conor Benn tested positive for before an attempted bout against Chris Eubank Jr.
Per Boxing Scene, Puello is about to become a father. It's believed that doctor-recommended substances were the result of the positive test. He did not disclose any medications he recently took to VADA.
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"After he and his wife tried for years without success to have children, Alberto visited a urologist and a fertility doctor," Belgica Pena, Puello’s promoter, told Boxing Scene. "After running several studies, he was diagnosed with Grade 3 Bilateral Variocele. The specialist recommended surgery and medical treatment, which we discovered, unfortunately contained the banned substance in question. We turned over all of the medical records to the (Nevada) commission, the drug testing agency (VADA), and the WBA. The good news is that his wife is pregnant."
"I have never [compromised] my principles," Puello added. "I am a clean and disciplined fighter."
Per the WBA, Puello is now "champion in recess." Romero vs. Barroso is now for the WBA super lightweight title.
What is clomifene?
As is often the case in anti-doping stories, the main usage of the drug that has been named seems to have very little to do with professional sport.
Clomifene is an anti-oestrogen medication offered in pill form to help women who are facing infertility. It is also known as clomiphene and by the brand name Clomid.
MORE: What is VADA?
When former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar was suspended for a year because the drug was found in his system before a fight in 2016, Reuters said the agent can “indirectly raise natural testosterone levels in the body and can also counter the side-effects of anabolic steroid use."
WADA bans the drug in athletes because it can help restart natural testosterone production.
Lesnar's representatives originally said that asthma medication, eye medication and foot cream could have been the cause of the positive tests.
Lesnar did not test positive for steroids and there is no suggestion that Benn has tested positive for steroids, having never previously done so.
“With [anabolic steroid use], it’s pretty common to get either enlargement of the breasts (gynocomastia) or tenderness of the tissue (mastodynia),” Dr Stuart Weinerman, an endocrinologist at a New York healthcare provider, told Men’s Fitness in 2016. “Most of the androgenic drugs that people use result in this.”
UFC Hall of Famer Jon Jones is perhaps the most high-profile athlete to have tested positive for the drug.
Jones did not contest a suspension imposed by the Nevada State Athletic Commission when clomifene was one of two banned substances found in his system in 2016, but the two-time light heavyweight champion told fans on Twitter that he was not a "cheater" and did not know that the drug could cover up steroid use, which he said he was not guilty of.
Punishments for the substance have varied: New York Giants wide receiver Golden Tate was suspended for four games in 2019, and Brazil youth international rugby player Alisson Kalkmann Ribeiro was suspended for 21 months - reduced from two years on appeal - the following year .
