Alycia Baumgardner is cleared to fight.
Sort of.
A ruling from the World Boxing Council (WBC) determined that the undisputed junior lightweight champion was “not guilty of intentional ingestion or consumption of a banned substance for performance enhancement purposes” following a lengthy investigation. Baumgardner tested positive for the banned substance Mesterolone surrounding her revenge-fueled, points win over Christina Linardatou last July 15 in her hometown of Detroit, Michigan.
The decision revealed on Monday did not clear Baumgardner outright, but also will not result in her being stripped of the WBC title.
“Based on the Adverse Finding in Ms. Baumgardner’ A Sample, and considering all factors both sides presented, the WBC arrived at the conclusion that there was no conclusive justification to reject the accuracy of the Adverse Finding based on the evidence and arguments the Response and supplemental information presented,” the WBC declared in a statement. “However, that same evidence and arguments do not conclusively support Ms. Baumgardner’s intentional ingestion of Mesterolone for performance enhancement purposes.
“The WBC is ruling that:
– [T]he accuracy and validity of the Adverse Finding justifies placing Ms. Baumgardner on probation for one (1) year from the date the sample that yielded the Adverse Finding was collected, or until July12, 2024;
– Ms. Baumgardner shall be subjected to a series of random anti-doping tests at her own cost, which frequency shall be determined by VADA;
– [I]f there is an adverse finding concerning any of Ms. Baumgardner’s samples or a whereabouts failure during her probationary period and for 6-months thereafter, the WBC shall immediately and without further inquiry take immediate action against Ms. Baumgardner under the WBC Clean Boxing Program Protocol;
– Ms. Baumgardner and the WBC will work together to design and implement her participation in an anti-doping prevention program directed to active female boxers.
Baumgarder (15-1, 7KOs) currently holds the WBC, WBA, IBF, IBO and WBO junior lightweight titles. The other three sanctioning bodies have yet to rule on the matter, though the WBO has conducted its own parallel investigation since last September.
No decision was yet made by the Michigan Unarmed Combat Commission, who has failed to respond to multiple inquiries from Boxing Scene and several involved parties seeking comment.
The inclusion of VADA (Voluntary Anti-Doping Association) is in line with the WBC’s Clean Boxing Program (CBP). VADA was not involved in any way in the aforementioned testing, which was conducted by Drug Free Sport.
The test in question was taken on July 12, three days ahead of Baumgardner’s successful title defense versus Linardatou. The win avenged Baumgardner’s lone career defeat, a split decision in July 2018 predating the title reigns of either boxer.
News of the positive test was first learned by the media in mid-August, a full month after the Baumgardner-Linardatou rematch. As previously reported by Boxing Scene, chain of custody was among the concerns raised by Baumgardner’s team, as the test sample was not received by accredited lab Sports Medicine Research & Testing until July 21, nine days after it was collected on site in Detroit. A report was filed on August 10, which showed accelerated levels of the banned substance Mesterolone.
Baumgardner has professed her innocence and has fully complied with the terms put forth by all four sanctioning bodies and the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC), who listed a temporary suspension based on such results.
Even with the WBC’s ruling, any official suspension can only come from a presiding commission. Sanctioning bodies only have the authority to relieve a boxer of their title reign and/or disallow them to participate in title or elimination bouts.
Next steps for Baumgardner were not immediately known, although she has outstanding mandatory title defenses. Former WBC lightweight titlist Delfine Persoon is the mandatory challenger for three of the four sanctioning bodies, including the WBC. Persoon’s team has eagerly awaited the outcome of the ongoing investigations and plans to immediately enforce her status to ensure a title shot is her next bout.
The only bout that Baumgardner has publicly commented on in recent weeks is a desired superfight versus pound-for-pound queen Claressa Shields (15-0, 2KOs). The two have been embroiled in an ongoing social media feud that has occasionally spilled over into real life.
Shields is the reigning undisputed middleweight champion and has also held championships at junior middleweight and super middleweight. Baumgardner has called for a meet-in-the-middle showdown at welterweight, a weight Shields previously claimed she could make for a fight that financially satisfies the sacrifice.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. X (formerly Twitter): @JakeNDaBox