Raymundo Beltran’s boxing career is about to receive a heavy blow from the Nevada State Athletic Commission after he tested positive for a banned substance. Following his bout with Takahiro Ao in May – which Beltran won via 2nd round TKO – the anabolic steroid Stanozolol was found in Beltran’s system. Not good.
This means a string of nasty repercussions are about to hit the seasoned Mexican who has shared the ring with world champions such as Ricky Burns and Terence Crawford. A suspension, of course. Not only that, his recent win over Ao will likely be changed to a less desirable No Contest. And yeah, fight fans aren’t generally too accepting of athletes caught doping, either.
For what it’s worth, things could have been even worse for Beltran. The Ao fight was for the vacant WBO Lightweight title – had Beltran made weight successfully, he would now be in possession of a belt which he’d have to soon relinquish.
Carl Moretti, VP of Top Rank, expressed his disappointment to ESPN.com:
“Just disappointed. I’m disappointed for Beltran and I’m disappointed for us, but eventually fighters are going to learn not to try to cheat the system. I feel worse about it that it happened to [Ao promoter] Mr. [Akihiko] Honda and our friends from Teiken Boxing and that their fighter, Ao, was hurt by all this.”
Though we’ll never know exactly how the drug got into Beltran’s system – for sure – his manager Cameron Dunkin suspects a member of the training camp could be to blame.
“He’s devastated about the Soto fight,” said Dunkin. “Who wouldn’t be? He feels betrayed by somebody who was working with him, but he doesn’t know by who. He has three different guys who work with him but somebody really let him down. Someone didn’t look out for him. This is terrible. There’s nothing else to say.”
With Beltran’s ban from the sport looming, TV network HBO, along with promoters Top Rank and Golden Boy, will be looking for a Humberto Soto replacement opponent. Beltran was supposed to be fighting Soto on July 27th, and Jose Felix Jr. is now hitting the rumor mill as a potential fill-in.
Let us know your thoughts on Raymundo Beltran and this unwelcome news to hit boxing. Is he set to face the same fate as British fighter, Kid Galahad?
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