Uzbek heavyweight boxer Lazizbek Mullojonov, who won Olympic gold in Paris last year, has been suspended from amateur bouts for three years because of doping, the International Testing Agency said.
“The athlete tested positive for the prohibited substance methasterone metabolites after providing an out-of-competition sample on 11 June 2025,” the agency said in a statement on Friday on behalf of World Boxing, which governs international amateur boxing. Methasterone is a steroid that enhances muscle and strength.
The agency said Mullojonov, 26, has agreed to the suspension, which was reduced by one year from the standard period of four years “due to his early admission” of the anti-doping violation. The agency is based in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The suspension is retroactive to July 22 of this year, when Mullojonov was provisionally suspended pending the outcome of an investigation, and runs until July 21, 2028. The 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles take place from July 14-30.
Under the ruling on Friday, Mullojonov’s competitive results between June 11 of this year, the date of a sample collection, and July 22 are disqualified.
The Uzbekistan Boxing Federation had said Mullojonov may have ingested “prohibited doping substances” during a hair transplant last year. It said the surgery occurred on November 19, 2024, at a private clinic in Fergana city in Uzbekistan after the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The athlete may have taken medications containing banned substances that were provided by the clinic during the treatment.
Mullojonov also won gold in the super-heavyweight category at the Asian Championships in 2022. Despite the suspension from amateur competition, Mullojonov can compete in some professional fights, including one in which he defeated Nigerian boxer Monyasahu Muritador in Tashkent on Friday.
