Chris Pearson, Lanardo Tyner, Luis Arias fail drug tests on Feb. 28 Mayweather Promotions show

Lanardo Tyner, two others fail drug tests on Feb. 28 Mayweather Promotions show

Welterweight Lanardo Tyner was supposed to be facing Jermall Charlo this past weekend on the Sho-Extreme portion of the Keith Thurman-Julio Diaz card that took place in Carson, California.

Tyner was inexplicably pulled out and was replaced by a late substitute. BehindTheGloves.com was informed from a trusted source that Tyner had failed a drug test following his Feb. 28 split decision loss to Chris Pearson on a ShoBox card promoted by Mayweather Promotions that took place at Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, New York.

BehindTheGloves.com contacted the Oneida Indian Nation Athletic Commission to find out more information. Executive director/commissioner Dan Gustafson informed BTG that it is their policy not to release names, but did tell BTG that not one, but three fighters failed drug tests in relation to that show.

UPDATE: Literally minutes after this story went up, Fighthype released a piece saying that the other two fighters that tested positive were Mayweather Promotions fighters Luis Arias and Chris Pearson, who both tested positive for marijuana.

The Oneida Commission also informed BTG that the suspensions were for 45 days, meaning technically both Pearson and Arias could have fought on this weekend’s Mayewather-Maidana card. So it was up to Mayweather Promotions to keep them off the card.

BTG had information previously that the two fighters in question were the ones who tested positive, but awaited confirmation. BTG reached out to Pearson’s publicist Radio Rahim for a statement a few days ago and was provided with the following statement:

“Chris is sparing with Miguel Cotto. He feels his last performance showed him areas he needs to work on. He opted to continue working on his technique while getting Cotto ready for Martinez. Chris will be back in the ring soon, facing tough competition and showing vast improvement.”

In that statement, there is no admission of a positive test.

-Mark E. Ortega / @MarkEOrtega

-Managing editor at www.BehindTheGloves.com