Australia's Lucas "Big Daddy" Browne has pleaded ignorance as he faces being stripped of his world heavyweight boxing title because of a positive drug test.
The World Boxing Association (WBA) has notified Browne that his urine sample tested positive to clenbuterol following his upset victory over Uzbekistan's Ruslan Chagaev in Chechnya earlier this month.
Browne took to Twitter after the news broke on American sports website ESPN.com.
"I don't understand today's news, and I'm seeking legal advice," Browne tweeted.
Clenbuterol, which boosts the metabolism and burns fat, was used by Tour de France-winning cyclist Alberto Contador in 2010.
Collingwood AFL players Lachlan Keefe and Josh Thomas are serving suspensions after testing positive to it last year.
The news of Browne's positive test broke on the same day that the WBA named him as their boxer of the month.
His 10th-round stoppage of Chagaev made him the first Australian to claim a world heavyweight title.
Browne has not yet said whether he will have his "B" sample tested, although it is highly likely, given the former bouncer stands to lose big-money pay days defending his title.
He was scheduled to make his first defence against Puerto Rico's Fres Oquendo, followed by a potential multi-million dollar fight against the WBA's unified champion Tyson Fury of England.
Coincidentally Oquendo also failed a drug test after his 2014 bout against Chagaev in Chechnya.
The Puerto Rican's sample included traces of a breast cancer drug, but he and his management strenuously denied the claims, arguing that testing protocols had been broken.
Browne's positive test comes three years after fellow Australian Sam Soliman tested positive for a banned stimulant after winning a middleweight title elimination fight against Germany's Felix Sturm in Dusseldorf.
Soliman was cleared when his B sample was negative. Nevertheless the result of his fight was changed to a no-contest.
He went on to beat Sturm in Germany to win the IBF title in May 2014 but lost it in his first defence against American Jermain Taylor later that year.
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