World heavyweight champ Charr fails drugs test

Germany’s Manuel Charr (C) celebrates after winning the WBA world heavyweight boxing title in a bout against Russia’s Alexander Ustinov (unseen) on November 25, 2017 in Oberhausen, western Germany. / AFP PHOTO / dpa / Guido Kirchner / Germany OUT

World heavyweight champion Manuel Charr has had to call off next week’s title defense and is set to be stripped of his WBA belt after testing positive for steroids.

The 33-year-old, who was born in Lebanon but lives in Germany, was due to defend his title against American Fres Oquendo, 45, in Cologne on September 29, but the fight is off after Charr tested positive for two anabolic steroids.

“Under the circumstances, we will unfortunately have to cancel the world title fight,” Charr told Cologne-based newspaper Express and his management confirmed the title defense was off to SID, an AFP subsidiary.

“I can only ask my fans and all the people in Cologne to believe me and to trust that everything will be cleared up.”