Oscar Valdez has failed a VADA test ahead of his planned Sept. 10 fight against Robson Conceicao, with Mike Coppinger reporting that the WBC junior lightweight titlist tested positive for a diuretic.
While diuretics are not steroids, they are familiar to the boxing world and to failed drug tests in the boxing world, as they can help fighters shed weight quickly ahead of a bout. But the biggest worry about them is they can be used as a masking agent for other substances, stuff more routinely thought of when people think of failed drug tests.
Valdez (29-0, 23 KO) won the WBC 130 lb title from Miguel Berchelt with an impressive performance on Feb. 20, stopping Berchelt in the 10th round and pretty much dominating the fight, which surprised most people. There was some talk of him facing either WBO titlist Jamel Herring or Shakur Stevenson — who will instead fight one another on Oct. 23 — but instead Top Rank put together the bout with Conceicao (16-0, 8 KO), a former Olympic gold medalist who has been playing pat-a-cake with his pro career for about five years.
The failed test is the A-sample from Valdez’s VADA test, which means there’s still a B-sample to await. Generally speaking, the B-samples don’t return different results, but they can, so right now we’re waiting and seeing, but there is a chance this fight gets canceled, and a chance Valdez winds up stripped of his belt.