Jose Uzcategui fails drug test, pulled from November 13th David Benavidez fight

UPDATE (6:40 pm ET): Kyrone Davis is in as the replacement for Jose Uzcategui. — Scott

Jose Uzcategui’s fall from grace continues.

Earlier today, Jake Donovan and Keith Idec reported that Jose Uzcategui had been pulled from his November 13th fight with David Benavidez after testing positive for a banned substance. Mike Coppinger now claims that said substance is rEPO.

PBC is currently looking for a replacement opponent for Benavidez.

Uzcategui (31-4, 26 KO) was basically giftwrapped a title eliminator despite beating nobody of note since a 2019 upset loss to Lionell Thompson, still coasting on his 2018 knockout of Andre Dirrell for the IBF title he soon lost to Caleb Plant. While his name and status as a former champion should get him some more unearned big fights in the future, it’s hard to see him getting this sort of opportunity ever again.

It’s unclear whether Benavidez (24-0, 21 KO) will still become mandatory challenger with a win; he already sits at #1 in the WBC rankings, so he should theoretically fight anyone and still be at the top. We’ll see how it plays out.

The card still features Jose Benavidez Jr. and Rances Barthelemy.