Manuel Charr’s title defence on 29 September in Cologne failed due to a positive doping test by the heavyweight. This was announced by his management on Thursday afternoon in an official statement.
“I am totally shocked by the news and only cry,” said the 33-year-old, who was to defend his WBA belt against compulsory challenger Fres Oquendo (Puerto Rico), to the Cologne Express: “I have never taken anything.
Charr announced the opening of the B-sample. “But this is taking time. Under the circumstances, we will unfortunately have to cancel the World Cup fight in Cologne,” said the man from Cologne. If the B-sample confirms the result, it may be blocked.
“The fight is over. In my opinion, the WBA Manuel will remove the belt”, Thomas Pütz, President of the Federation of German Professional Boxers (BDB), confirmed to the SID: “During a training control on 31 August, two substances were found in Manuel’s body which have been on the list of banned substances for some time”.
According to several media reports, these are epitrenbolone and drostanolone. The control was carried out by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA). “These are both anabolic steroids. This is absolute hardcore doping. For boxers, the focus is on increasing muscle strength,” doping expert Fritz Sörgel told Bild.
Charr had already caused a stir when he won the title a year ago in November, when he was the first German heavyweight world champion since Max Schmeling and assured that he was in possession of a German passport. However, this turned out to be a lie. The Syrian’s application is also on hold because of his history.