WBC puts Baumgardner on probation
WBC Statement: As it has been widely publicized, a sample collected from WBC [female] super featherweight world champion Alycia Baumgardner on July 12, 2023 in connection with her July 15, 2023 title defense against Christina Lnardatou in Detroit, Michigan yielded an adverse analytical finding for a banned substance (the “Adverse Finding”). In compliance with the governing WBC Rules & Regulations and WBC CBP Protocol, the WBC undertook an investigation of the specific circumstances, health concerns, and legal precedent surrounding the Finding. The WBC convened its Results Management Unit that included experts in scientific, nutrition, and legal matters to investigate, analyze, and evaluate all the available facts and evidence, and to recommend to the WBC how to proceed in that particular case.
The WBC Results Management Unit provided Ms. Baumgardner’s team with sufficient opportunity to mount an extensive and vigorous defense of Ms. Baumgardner, which they did. The WBC fully evaluated Ms. Baumgardner’s position by, among other measures, engaged the services of an expert consultant and availing itself of the services of an experts nutritionist and a chemist. While there was sufficient evidence to support the validity of the anti-doping test that yielded the Adverse finding, the defenses Ms. Baumgardner presented put into question whether the Adverse Finding resulted from an intentional act, or from non-intentional contact with Mesterolone.
The final WBC Board of Governor’s ruling is based on: (1) the facts as known to the WBC at the time of the ruling; (2) generally accepted scientific principles applicable to the specific case at hand; (3) the interpretation of the information in the laboratory reports; and (4) credible, reliable, and relevant health-related and scientific literature.
Based on the Adverse Finding in Ms. Baumgardner’s A Sample, and considering all factors both sides presented, the WBC arrived at the conclusion that there was no conclusive justification to reject the accuracy of the Adverse Finding based on the evidence and arguments the Response and supplemental information presented. However, that same evidence and arguments do not conclusively support Ms. Baumgardner’s intentional ingestion of Mesterolone for performance enhancement purposes.
Accordingly, the WBC found Ms. Baumgarner not guilty of intentional ingestion or consumption of a banned substance for performance enhancement purposes, and confirmed her as reigning WBC super featherweight world champion. In addition, the WBC is ruling that: (1) the accuracy and validity of the Adverse Finding justifies placing Ms. Baumgardner on probation for one (1) year from the date the sample that yielded the Adverse Finding was collected, or until July 12, 2024; (2) Ms. Baumgardner shall be subjected to a series of random anti-doping tests at her own cost, which frequency shall be determined by VADA; (3) if there is an adverse finding concerning any of Ms. Baumgardner’s samples or a whereabouts failure during her probationary period and for 6-months thereafter, the WBC shall immediately and without further inquiry take immediate action against Ms. Baumgardner under the WBC Clean Boxing Program Protocol; and (4) Ms. Baumgardner and the WBC will work together to design and implement her participation in an anti-doping prevention program directed to active female boxers.
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