SYDNEY - Australian boxer Sam Soliman is "absolutely gobsmacked" by a report that he failed a drug test taken before his win over former WBA champion Felix Sturm in their IBF middleweight title eliminator in Germany last month.
Federation of German Professional Boxers president Thomas Puetz has told German daily Bild that Soliman's urine sample tested positive for an undisclosed banned substance.
Putz said a "difficult to detect designer drug with stimulating effects was found" following Soliman's win over Sturm in Dusseldorf on February 1.
Soliman was told of the Bild report by his manager David Stanley yesterday. "He's absolutely gobsmacked because this (anti-doping) is a very important principle that he lives by," Stanley told AAP.
Stanley, who is in the midst of negotiating a fight between Soliman and IBF middleweight world champion Daniel Geale later this year, said he was awaiting official notification after the positive test.