Canelo Alvarez heard the deafening criticism and on Tuesday announced that he has enrolled in a drug testing program with the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association.
"I want to let you know that I just signed the contract with VADA for year round testing," Alvarez wrote on Twitter.
It is a move that could go a long way to helping restore the Mexican star's tattered reputation and one that clears a major hurdle to putting the much-anticipated rematch with unified middleweight world champion Gennady Golovkin back together for Sept. 15.
"We have received paperwork from Mr. Alvarez's representatives for year-round testing (24/7/365) through VADA," Dr. Margaret Goodman, president of VADA, said in an email to ESPN.
Now he has, and his promoter, Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya, said he is relieved that Alvarez made that decision.
"This is good news," De La Hoya told ESPN. "This is voluntary and Canelo is paying for the testing out of his own pocket because he wants to prove to his fans that he is a clean fighter. Any time they want to test him he will make himself available. ... Canelo is doing this because he is listening to his fans. The criticism will always be there, but he decided to listen and prove to everyone that he is clean."
Coincidentally, the Nevada State Athletic Commission sent its own drug tester to Alvarez's hometown of Guadalajara, Mexico, to test him on Monday -- taking blood and urine for the first time since he was suspended -- once the commission determined it was within its rights to test him. Alvarez was cooperative, according to De La Hoya. The test results won't be available for approximately five days.
"What people don't know is Canelo is getting randomly tested by the Nevada commission," De La Hoya said. "He wants to be tested year-round. He wants to do this for his fans and that's why he's doing this so they won't doubt him."
De La Hoya and Golovkin promoter Tom Loeffler both said Canelo's enrollment will be beneficial to finalizing the rematch.
"We've started discussions with Tom. We want to make the fight happen and this is another step in the right direction," De La Hoya said. "Every top fighter should be tested by VADA on a year-round basis. That's the only way to clean up the sport.
"This is a huge step, a major hurdle we have cleared. There are no excuses whatsoever. GGG wants the fight, Canelo wants this fight, so let's just get past this and move forward and give the fans the fight they want to see again."
Said Loeffler: "I think it's important for Canelo to be enrolled and that was one of the requirements in the discussions we've had with Golden Boy for the rematch. They never balked at it. It's one less hurdle. I'm in continued discussions with (Golden Boy president) Eric (Gomez) and hopefully we have some resolution here in the near future."
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