Willie Monroe Jr. with adverse finding in VADA test, Jermall Charlo fight in jeopardy

Boxingnews24.com

By Dan Ambrose: World Boxing Council president Mauricio Sulaiman says former middleweight world title challenger Willie Monroe Jr. had an “adverse finding” in his VADA test for his fight next week against interim WBC 160 lb champion Jermall Charlo on December 22 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Sulaiman says the adverse finding for Monroe was confirmed by the WBA, and that Premier Boxing Champions, TGB Promotions and Fox Sports have been advised of the situation. Sulaiman says the WBC will be making a ruling next week about Monroe’s situation. As a result, there’s a good chance the Charlo vs. Monroe Jr. fight will be canceled.

Sulaiman said this on his Twitter on Saturday:

“WBC Boxing has been confirmed by Vada Testing that Willie Monroe tested with an adverse finding. All parties have been informed. Premier Boxing, TGB Promotions & FOX Sports are all in agreement of making the best to preserve the safety of all in boxing. WBC will rule on Monday.”

While there’s always a chance that the WBC will still allow Monroe to take the fight on December 22, it would seem unlikely unless it’s something really minor that his adverse test result is from.

This is disappointing news for the boxing world, as they were looking forward to seeing Charlo defend his interim WBC middleweight title against 2-time world title challenger Monroe Jr. (23-3, 6 KOs) next week. Monroe Jr. has been in the ring with former middleweight champions Gennady Golovkin and Billy Joe Saunders, and he had his moment in both of those contests. It would have been intriqueing to see what Charlo, 28, could do against Monroe Jr. to see if he could beat him in a more impressive manner than GGG and Saunders did.

If the Charlo-Monroe Jr. fight is pulled from the card due to the adverse test results by Monroe Jr., then the co-feature bout on the card between Jermall’s twin brother WBC light middleweight champion Jermell Charlo (31-0, 15 KOs) will slide into the main event spot in his title defense against Tony Harrison (27-2, 21 KOs). Jermall (27-0, 21 KOs) won a coin toss to get the main event position on the December 22 over his brother Jermell. But it looks like it’s going to be Jermell that fights in the headliner spot with Jermall off the card unless they can find a last minute replacement for him to defend against. That would seem unlikely. Getting a quality replacement opponent to face a puncher like Charlo on a week’s notice might prove to be impossible. Even if Premier Boxing Champions could find someone good to take the fight, would Charlo agree to fight someone on a week notice? It’s not just the replacement opponent that needs to worry. Charlo does too. He’s got more to lose.

Monroe lost to former WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision last year in December 2017. Monroe Jr. fought like he wasn’t even trying to win. In 2015, Monroe was stopped in the 6th round by GGG in a mismatch.