Ray Beltran was scheduled to face Humberto Soto on June 27th at the StubHub Center in Carson, California on the undercard of Timothy Bradley-Jessie Vargas, which is the scheduled headliner for an HBO telecast.
However, as Boxingscene.com reported a few days ago, the fight is off after Beltran tested positive for an anabolic steroid last week. We now know the steroid stanozolol was found in his post-fight drug test following his 2nd round KO of Takahiro Ao back on May 1st on the first ever Top Rank promoted TruTV card.
The Beltran victory over Ao will likely be changed to a no decision and disciplinary action will follow according to the Nevada State Athletic Commission. The executive director of NSAC told ESPN.com that the positive test came from a post-fight urine test.
Soto will remain on the card and ESPN’s Dan Rafael says that Felix Diaz Jr. is a likely replacement, although HBO, Top Rank and Soto’s promoter Golden Boy are still scrambling to figure it all out. Diaz Jr. is actually scheduled for a UniMas card on June 13th, although there is still no opponent.
This will be the second consecutive Soto opponent that has had to withdraw. Soto was supposed to fight Frankie Gomez on May 9th as the co-feature to Canelo-Kirkland, but Gomez didn’t make weight and the fight was cancelled.
Beltran’s manager, Cameron Dunkin, told ESPN that his fighter is unaware of anything illegal he might’ve taken. Dunkin is working on getting a list of supplements from Beltran.
