In the coming weeks, Maltese boxer Haithem Laamouz will face a disciplinary board to plead his case after he tested positive for a banned substance in his European Union Featherweight Champion bout.

Laamouz tested positive for the performance-enhancing drug Norandrosterone following a doping test taken minutes after he was crowned European Union Featherweight Champion in December 2020.

Although a second sample was to be tested in order to confirm the result, Laamouz was told that he would be facing a disciplinary hearing with the Malta Boxing Association instead. 

Now, months later, the MBA has reconvened under a new committee and a new disciplinary board has been established to hear his case.

“During our last Annual General Meeting we appointed a new committee,” MBA President Marc James told Lovin Malta. “Most people have remained the same but we have replaced two people.”

The current committee is as stands: Marc James as President, Leif Hamsan as Vice President, Frank Borg as Secretary-General, Natasha Micallef as Treasurer, Edwin Micallef as Technical Advisor with Laithem Mifsud and Isaac Chetcuti being the two new members to join the board. 

“In the next four weeks Haithem Laamouz will be summoned to a disciplinary meeting chaired by lawyer Clinton Tabona – an ex-member of the Malta WADA board,” James continued.

If found guilty of doping, Laamouz will have his title stripped from him and face possible suspension.

Maltese boxers in the past have been suspended for up to four years under similar circumstances. At 31 years of age, Laamouz was looking forward to starting a new chapter in his boxing career, but it might come to an abrupt and disappointing end pending the outcome of the hearing.

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