World Boxing Council Mauricio Sulaiman has defended his organization's decision to sanction the upcoming bout of WBC super featherweight world champion Oscar Valdez.

Since last week, Valdez has been fighting past a drug testing controversy that surrounds his scheduled defense against Olympic gold medal winner Robson Conceicao.

The contest is taking place on September 10 from Tucson, Arizona.

Valdez's defense came under fire last week, when it was revealed that he tested positive for the banned substance phentermine, which is best known as an appetite suppressant.

The substance is banned by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA).

But, the substance is not considered prohibited when it is used 'out of competition' by the World Anti-Doping Agency. 

Valdez came up positive for the substance from a test taken on August 13. He came up negative on a test taken on August 30.

After a review of the situation, both the Pascua Yaqui Tribe Athletic Commission and the WBC allowed the fight to go forward.

Sulaiman believes his organization made the right decision.

"An adverse analytical finding of an out-of-competition test of our super featherweight champion Oscar Valdez was announced. Very unfortunately, many fans, many members of the boxing community with vested interests, and some media outlets and individuals reacted immediately, without even understanding what had happened. 'Positive Test!' 'Guilty!' 'Crucify the cheater'; the desire to see punishment is what moves today's society, scandal, cheating, fraud, and tragedies. There is no 'will investigate' and 'balance the facts' in order to arrive at a final conclusion. The premature judgments are mostly based in assumptions," Sulaiman said.

"The World Boxing Council is the only organization that has a program that works around the world to combat the use of prohibited substances. The WBC has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars, and has endured significant problems, especially when positive tests have come out during the six years of operation of the Clean Boxing Program.

"The program was designed and implemented with an expert agency, VADA, which administers it and is responsible for establishing the list of prohibited substances, which athletes will be subjected to random tests through collection of samples without notice, as well as sending them to the laboratory plus promptly reporting the results.

"From there, when there is an adverse result, the administration of our organization enters to manage the protocol to be followed, and it is the WBC who is in charge of results management and imposing the corresponding actions and penalties. A series of actions were carried out to be able to study, analyze and understand all the aspects. Hearings were held with various parties involved and in the end a resolution was given.

"Oscar Valdez continues as the defending champion. The fight on September 10 will be for the world championship. He will be subject to an important series of actions related to what happened, with the aim of monitoring his performance in the months to come and educating him and his entire team on the issues of nutrition, hydration, weight management and prohibited substances; all at a significant economic cost to himself.

"In order to issue the final resolution, important considerations were carefully assessed: the type of substance and its properties; It is a medicine that suppresses the appetite and does not give any competitive advantage. The levels of the substance, which were 77 nanograms per milliliter, while the allowed limit is 50. The test was taken a month before the fight and the next test, taken on August 30, came back negative.

"The history of Valdez, as a two Olympic Games and as professional has had more than 30 tests without ever having a doping problem; In addition, he is widely recognized by all members of the boxing community, pointing to him as a hardworking, clean, dedicated young nan with an impeccable record.

"It is a real shame that there are those who do not have the slightest intention of studying and understanding what happened; They are not interested in seeing that it was a transparent and consistent process to the regulation, and they only choose to have their own opinion, their own conclusion, and thus express it publicly, hurting the image of a young person, as well as the integrity of the sport and the WBC.

"I am convinced that time will prove a lot about this sad episode, but it will also help to improve some of the things about how the Clean Boxing Program is managed."