Former WBA and WBO middleweight world champion Felix Sturm was impressive back on Feb. 20 in Germany when he conquered Fedor Chudinov for the WBA super middleweight crown. The battle was a rematch of a split decision loss to Chudinov earlier in the year and though the fight was about as close as the first, Sturm had his hand raised in victory.
According to multiple online reports Saturday evening, Sturm’s A sample was flagged for having traces of the anabolic steroid Hydro-XY-Stanozolol, which is a banned substance. The news has come as a shock to the 37-year old Sturm (40-5-3, 18 KOs), who denied any knowledge of taking the steroid and believes there is an error in the test.
“I’ve been tested in my career 100 times, and always the results were negative,” Sturm told the Cologne Express, one of Germany’s biggest newspapers. “The fact that after two months such news comes and the BDB (Germany’s boxing commission) wasn’t informed, how can this be? I will bring in the lawyers and open the B sample.”
The status of his standing as the 168-pound champion and whether he’ll be stripped of both the belt and the win remain unclear at the moment.