IBO Championship Committee clears Kevin Lerena of doping

Kevin "Two Guns" Lerena has been cleared of any wrongdoing by the IBO Championship Committee over doping, and this means the 26-year-old will keep his cruiserweight belt.

This after the alleged banned substance for which he had tested positive was found to be medication prescribed for his wife.

IBO president Edward Levine told Sowetan from Miami, Florida, yesterday his organisation's Championship Committee made a ruling in favour of Lerena on Monday.

The WBC announced on Twitter in November 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 of the "A" sample collected from Lerena on October 18 in connection with his agreement to participate in the Vada testing programme in that he tested positive for Clomiphene, a banned substance.

Levine added that clomiphene is commonly prescribed to females to treat infertility.

"Clomiphene could be used to hide anabolic steroids in an athlete's system," Levine said.

"The IBO Championship Committee was also provided with information from Kevin Lerena which included but was not limited to the documentation from Lerena's orthopaedic surgeon regarding his post-operative medication and rehab process, documentation from Lerena's wife's doctor regarding her treatment and prescriptions for a female issue and evidence and testimony provided by the boxer.

"The evidence presented by Kevin Lerena during this time frame clearly indicated his instructions that muscle building is frowned upon and he should not engage in sports specific training," he added.

Levine said the evidence presented from Lerena's wife's doctor clearly showed that she was prescribed clomiphene to be taken for a period of 10 days.

"The committee concluded that it would be far-fetched to believe that Lerena somehow 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."

Lerena was relieved by the news. "It was all unintentional. The media tried to tarnish my name but I knew it was a matter of time before it was sorted out," he said.

Lerena will put his title on line for the third time against German-based Kazakhstani Atur Mann at Emperors Palace on March 3.