Janibek Alimkhnauly Has An ‘Adverse Analytical Finding’ For A Performance Enhancing Drug

On Tuesday afternoon, news broke from Ring’s Mike Coppinger that unified middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly (17-0, 12 KOs) will not face WBA champion Erislandy Lara (31-3-3, 19 KOs) on Saturday night in San Antonio, TX, due to an adverse analytical finding (meldonium) in his recent VADA test.

This is surprising but also disappointing since Janibek’s fight against Lara was highly anticipated. Veteran journalist Dan Rafael followed up Coppinger’s report by sharing a copy of the letter sent to all parties involved in the fight.

Janibek quickly jumped on X, reacting to the report of the VADA test.

“I have always supported clean sport you know this well. I was surprised when I read the news. VADA took the first test and said everything was clean. I have not made any changes to my vitamins. I don’t know what happened with the second test, so I requested a retest.”

Janibek is the IBF and WBO champion and although the IBF has not made an official comment on the matter, the WBO has and said the following via X:

PBC (Premier Boxing Champions) has already moved on from the fight, and Johan Gonzalez (36-4, 34 KOs) will face Lara on Saturday’s Isaac Cruz vs. Lamont Roach Jr. PPV card. Gonzalez’s last fight was in March, when he defeated Jarrett Hurd via a split decision. It’s a decent fight but nowhere close to Janibek-Lara.

This will break up the titles and it may lead to a longer path for Terence Crawford if he decides to pursue undisputed status at 160 pounds.

Abraham Gonzalez

Abraham Gonzalez is the founder of FightsATW. His journalistic work has been published and used across several platforms to include online, network TV and promotional companies. He is an American Public University alumnus and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA). Abraham was the Managing Editor for NYFights, Big Fight Weekend, contributed to FanSidedMMA and ProBoxTV.

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