{"id":495280,"date":"2026-02-24T01:46:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T01:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/495280\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T01:46:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T01:46:07","slug":"wbo-under-fire-for-refusing-to-strip-world-champion-who-failed-drugs-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/495280\/","title":{"rendered":"WBO under fire for refusing to strip world champion who failed drugs test"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The WBO has come under heavy criticism after a recent decision regarding one of their reigning world champions.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/opinion\/60-seconds-zhanibek-alimkhanuly-says-i-have-not-yet-had-strong-opponents-and-never-will\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Zhanibek Alimkhanuly<\/a> tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance in November 2025, meaning his planned fight with Erislandy Lara \u2013 originally scheduled for December 6, 2025 \u2013 was cancelled.<\/p>\n<p>Meldonium, a banned substance, was found in his system, but since then, there has been no comment from the Texas Combative Sports Program \u2013 the relevant commission in this case \u2013 as to whether he will receive a ban.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, <a href=\"https:\/\/wboboxing.com\/boxing-news\/world-championship-committee-resolution-in-the-matter-of-wbo-middleweight-champion-zhanibek-alimkhanuly\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">the WBO released its \u2018championship committee resolution\u2019<\/a> on the matter, confirming that Alimkhanuly must undergo a year-long suspension while retaining his championship status.<\/p>\n<p>Upon his return, the Kazakh will be ordered to face the winner Denzel Bentley vs Endry Saavedra, which takes place for the WBO \u2018interim\u2019 title on April 4.<\/p>\n<p>Alimkhanuly, meanwhile, also holds the IBF title at 160lbs, though the sanctioning body is yet to release a statement on whether he will be stripped of the belt.<\/p>\n<p>What is known, however, is that despite his failed drugs test, the unbeaten southpaw has been permitted to keep hold of his WBO strap.<\/p>\n<p>In response to this news, many have expressed their frustration via social media platform X, including Scottish trainer <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/L2Box1\/status\/2025151703918555308\" rel=\"nofollow\">Billy Nelson<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTotally wrong. Go ahead, take drugs, nothing\u2019s going to get done about it. F***ing joke.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In response to Nelson, another X user highlighted the WBO\u2019s decision not to strip Alimkhanuly of his title as a particularly bewildering development.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis has to be a wind up. How can you get banned for [doping] but be allowed to keep the title until the ban is finished, then defend it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another onlooker commented on the social media post with a plea for boxing authorities to impose stricter bans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLifetime bans are the only way to stop this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Alimkhanuly has received a year-long suspension by the WBO, there is still a chance that the Texas Combative Sports Program will dish out a harsher penalty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The WBO has come under heavy criticism after a recent decision regarding one of their reigning world champions.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-495280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}