Hair Test Shows Canelo Alvarez Wasn’t Intentionally Taking Banned Substance

Canelo Alvarez submitted to hair follicle testing at the request of the Nevada State Athletic Commission and the test came back negative for the banned performance-enhancing drug clenbuterol, lending some credence to Alvarez’s insistence that his two positive drug tests for the substance in February, which caused his rematch with unified middleweight world champion Gennady Golovkin to be canceled, were caused by eating contaminated beef.

The Nevada commission collected hair samples from Alvarez on March 29 and they were tested at the Sports Medicine Research & Testing Laboratory, a WADA-accredited lab in Salt Lake City, Utah, Bob Bennett, the commission executive director, told ESPN.

The results document, which was provided to ESPN, was returned on April 20 with a single note in the section reserved for analysis details: “Hair sample tested for clenbuterol. Clenbuterol was not detected.”

The negative hair follicle test is notable because while clenbuterol is detectable in urine for less than a week after it is ingested, the drug can be detected in hair for several months.

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