18.05 New Boxing Champion Accused of Doping Hours After Victory
MOSCOW, May 18 (R-Sport) Hours after winning the World Boxing Association cruiserweight title, Guillermo Jones was plunged into scandal when a former champion accused him of doping to give himself unnatural stamina in Fridays knockout win over Denis Lebedev.
Panamanian fighter Jones, 41, retook the belt when the referee stopped the fight in the 11th round after Lebedev was knocked down.
At the time, the Russian was leading on all three scorecards, and had landed some heavy shots on Jones despite fighting with a bruise the size of a tennis ball around his right eye.
Jones fortitude in resisting Lebedevs punches was abnormal, said former International Boxing Organization super bantamweight champion Dmitry Bakhtin, who was ringside in Moscow.
I reckon that Jones was on something. Obviously the medical commission needs to get involved. The tests will show everything, said Bakhtin, who retired unbeaten in March. He suggested that Jones would have fallen under Lebedevs onslaught unless he had used banned substances.
After the fight, some reports claimed Jones had refused to take a scheduled doping test, but WBA executive Gilberto Mendoza insisted the new champion had done so.
There is a false report stating @felinojones refused the doping test. I just spoke with WBA supervisor who guaranteed it was done, he said on Twitter.
