Report: Alberto Puello fails drug test, Rolando Romero fight canceled

WBA junior welterweight titleholder Alberto Puello failed a VADA drug test ahead of his slated May 13 fight against Rolando Romero, which was to be a Showtime main event, and that fight is now off.

Mike Coppinger reported at ESPN.com that Puello’s “A-sample revealed an adverse finding for the performance-enhancing drug clomiphene and its M1 and M2 metabolites.”

If you’re thinking that “clomiphene” sounds familiar, it’s because that’s what Conor Benn popped for last year. The WBC later accepted Benn’s explanation and cleared him of intentionally using the drug.

The WBA told ESPN.com that they are “going through due process,” as you’d expect, and no decision about Puello’s titleholder status has been made.

If Puello (21-0, 10 KO) does wind up stripped, it is possible that Romero (14-1, 12 KO) could face 40-year-old Venezuelan Ismael Barroso (24-3-2, 22 KO) for the vacant title. Barroso has been sort of getting jerked around for quite a while in the WBA title picture at 140, so it’s also entirely possible that if Romero does fight for a vacant WBA title, it could be against someone else, with Barroso yet again put on the back burner.

But all of that remains to be seen, of course.

As of now, there’s no word on whether or not Showtime will still run on May 13, if they can get an opponent in for Romero — who is really the star draw here — or what the deal will be, but it’s less than a month out so something would have to move fast, and if it’s going to be for a vacant belt, it might not be coming on May 13.