Canelo Alvarez Sends Blunt Message About Teammate’s Positive PED Test

Canelo Alvarez didn’t mince words about his teammate Jaime Munguia testing positive for a banned substance.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez during the game International Friendly on September 7, 2024. / IMAGO / Agencia-MexSport
On May 29, news broke that Mexican boxer Jaime Munguia had tested positive for a banned substance after his May 4 victory over Bruno Surace. The positive substance was referred to as “exogenous testosterone metabolites.” If a subsequent test (called a B-sample) also returns as positive for the substance, the result of the fight against Surace will likely be overturned to a no-contest, and Munguia will receive a suspension of potentially up to a year.

Munguia issued a statement on this news via his social media on Thursday, which said, “Throughout my boxing career, I have undergone numerous anti-doping tests and have never tested positive.

“I was tested twice during this training camp, and both results came back negative, which is why receiving this notification of an adverse finding has been a complete surprise to me. Several experts have explained that there are multiple ways contamination can occur, and I am fully willing to undergo any retroactive, current, or future testing to demonstrate that I have always been a clean athlete,” he added.

Munguia faced Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in a May 4, 2024, fight, which Canelo won via unanimous decision. Afterwards, Munguia joined Canelo’s team, as both are under legendary head coach Eddy Reynoso.

And when addressing the media on May 30, Canelo got honest about his stance regarding his teammate’s positive PED test.

In translated English from Spanish, Canelo is quoted as saying, “I am with [Munguia] 100%, but only he knows what happened.”

He later added, “Eddy [Reynoso] doesn’t give him his foo

It’s interesting to hear Canelo jump to his coach’s defense, asserting that even if Munguia was knowingly taking a banned substance, Reynoso likely had nothing to do with it (at least according to Canelo).

Alvarez also has a checkered history with positive PED tests, as he tested positive for trace amounts of the banned substance clenbuterol, which stimulates the heart and central nervous system, ahead of his rematch against Gennady Golovkin in 2018.

Canelo denied knowingly having taken the substance, was suspended for six months as a result of the test, and the initial May 2018 rematch date against Golovkin was moved to that September.