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Cape Town - Kevin "Two Guns" Lerena has been cleared of any wrongdoing by the IBO Championships Committee over doping, meaning the 26-year-old will keep his cruiserweight belt.
This after the IBO Championships Committee concluded that his ingestion of a prohibited substance was clearly accidental and nothing more than a mistake of taking of a tablet prescribed for his wife.
The Committee concluded that it was not likely that Lerena had colluded with his wife to be treated by her physician, and somehow have the physician prescribe a medication intended for use by Lerena instead of his wife.
The Committee also noted that the ingestion of this medication would have been clearly counter-productive to the instructions by his doctor for his rehabilitation and recovery process after injuring his arm.
IBO president Edward Levine confirmed to the Sowetan website from Miami, Florida, that his organisation's Championships Committee had indeed ruled in favour of Lerena.
The WBC announced on Twitter in November 2018 that Lerena had returned a positive result after the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (Vada) tested him on October 18 in Johannesburg.
Levine said his organisation was notified on November 12, 2018 of the 'A' sample collected from Lerena had tested positive for Clomiphene, a banned substance.
Levine added that clomiphene is commonly prescribed to females to treat infertility, but "could also be used to hide anabolic steroids in an athlete's system".
As a result of the ruling, Lerena's defence of his IBO (International Boxing Organisation) cruiserweight belt against the unbeaten Artur Mann of Kazakhstan on Saturday, March 16 at Emperors Palace has been given the green light to go ahead.
Ibo clear Lerena -taking a prohibited substance was clearly unintentional as evidenced from the medical reports !!!
— Rodney Berman (@GoldenGlovesSA) February 4, 2019
Clears it all up ??? Onwards & Upwards we go ???? I must thank every body who stood by me. I was overwhelmed by all the positive messages. I’m truly humbled ?? ... Oh ya to the big mouths , haters and the jealous foe ~ The big atomic????still remains pic.twitter.com/RhtVaFbbWY
— Kevin Lerena (@Kevin_Ko_Lerena) February 6, 2019
