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Canelo Alvarez suspended 6 months by NSAC

Joe Camporeale / USA TODAY Sports

On the same day that Gennady Golovkin received a replacement opponent, Canelo Alvarez learned his punishment for the positive drug test that will keep him out of the fight with GGG.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission suspended Alvarez for six months, according to ESPN, after the boxer tested positive for Clenbuterol, a banned substance Alvarez maintains got into his system due to tainted Mexican beef.

The NSAC and Alvarez's camp came to an adjudication agreement before his hearing, which was scheduled for Wednesday. The suspension is retroactive to the date of his first positive test, and makes August 17 the earliest Alvarez can return.

He would have been ineligible to compete for a year, but the ban was reduced because he cooperated with the investigation.

The length of the suspension is likely welcome news to Alvarez, as Golovkin's camp had suggested a year-long ban would put any chance of reviving a rematch in jeopardy.

Golovkin will fight Vanes Martirosyan in a middleweight bout May 5.

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