Botha's positive drug test

Boxing

Boxing

Francois Botha, the South African, has tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid, Nandrolone, after he won the International Federation heavyweight championship last month.

"It wasn't just a question of finding traces, we found large quantities." Alois Teuber, president of the German professional boxing federation, said in Bonn yesterday.

Botha denied any wrongdoing yesterday. "I have done nothing wrong because I have not taken any anabolic steroids," he said. "The test was done by a German laboratory. The IBF is in America, that's the only thing that counts. He said the urine sample had been taken in a German restaurant and that it was possible someone had spiked food.

"Now we must wait for the IBF to send their experts before we can carry out the analysis on a second sample." Teuber said. Asked what would happen if the second test proved negative, Teuber said he was certain that would not be the case.

Botha beat the German, Axel Schulz, for the vacant title with a controversial points decision last December in Stuttgart.