Hanna Gabriels’ promoter competed Thursday that a medication she used to her dog triggered Gabriels to test positive for a prohibited compound early this month.
Lou DiBella notified BoxingScene.com that Gabriels stopped working a Voluntary Anti-Doping Association test administered May 2 since clostebol is a component in a medication Gabriels spread on her dog’s surgically fixed abdominal area. According to DiBella, Gabriels had her partner spread out the medication on their dog’s stomach after a VADA tester notified her that a prohibited compound belonged in her dog’s medication.
Costa Rica’s Gabriels was however gotten rid of from her middleweight champion rematch with Claressa Shields, which was scheduled for June 3 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
Dmitriy Salita, Shields’ promoter, revealed Thursday that Shields (13-0, 2 KOs) will rather protect her IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO 160-pound champions versus Los Angeles’ Maricela Cornejo (16-5, 6 KOs) a week from Saturday night in a 10-round centerpiece DAZN will stream worldwide. Cornejo, who was already training for a battle, is the primary competitor for Shields’ IBF, WBC and WBO middleweight crowns.
“I’m not blaming Claressa for this,” DiBella said. “And I’m not complaining that Claressa picked another opponent. I understand that Hanna tested positive for a banned substance. I’m just explaining what happened here.”
Gabriels got a rematch with Shields mostly since she is the only challenger to knock ladies’s boxing’s pound-for-pound queen to the canvas throughout her six-year, 13-fight expert profession. Shields, a three-division champ and two-time Olympic gold medalist from Flint, Michigan, got up from that flash knockdown and decisively beat Gabriels (21-2-1, 12 KOs) on all 3 scorecards in a 10-round bout that happened in June 2018 at Masonic Temple in Detroit.
“The real victim in this situation is Hanna,” DiBella said. “She hasn’t had a payday in [25] months and now she’s out of a big fight. Her dog had major abdominal surgery. She applied the medication to her dog and that’s how it got in her bloodstream. As soon as she found out that she shouldn’t have touched the medication, she stopped doing it. If I’m wrong, analyze the amounts and show me the amounts in her system that prove she was cycling or microdosing or whatever.”
The 40-year-old Gabriels last combated in April 2021, when she stopped Mexico’s Martha Lara (11-10, 6 KOs) in what was formally a heavyweight bout at Fiesta Casino in San Jose, Costa Rica.
Salita was supportive towards Gabriels’ circumstance, however he worried he had no option however to change Gabriels since clostebol is a prohibited, performance-enhancing drug.
“I’m not blaming Hanna Gabriels,” Salita informed BoxingScene.com. “It’s not for me to evaluate whether it was a mishap or deliberate. I accept that it was a mishap. Fine, no issue. However, physiologically she had this prohibited compound in her body, which puts Claressa at a drawback. This is not viewpoint. It’s a clinical reality and I’m passing what the clinical truths state.
“Once she’s clean and clear, and she proves her innocence, then maybe we’ll revisit the rematch in the future. But it would be beyond irresponsible and another black eye for the sport to allow a competitor with performance-enhancing substances in her system to fight somebody. Not to play basketball or to run, but to fight with somebody.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
