Jaime Munguía is eyeing a return at the end of 2025 — after he was cleared by the British Boxing Board of Control following a drug test from his unanimous decision victory over Bruno Surace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 3 returned an adverse finding for an exogenous testosterone, which is not naturally produced by the body.

The adverse finding came from a drug test on the day of his rematch vs. Surace. Munguía and his lawyer, Paul Greene of Global Sports Advocates, said the adverse finding was a false positive due to multiple supplements that he took on the day of the fight being contaminated with pregnenolone, a naturally occurring hormone that is not prohibited by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency and World Anti-Doping Agency.

The adverse finding was flagged by VADA, which was conducting the drug testing for the card. After it was flagged, the results were sent to the BBBofC, which was the sanctioning body that oversaw the May 3 card, and the results were then sent to the United Kingdom Anti-Doping. UKAD accepted Munguía’s explanation that pregnenolone was the cause of the adverse finding, and as a result, the BBBofC just warned him moving forward.

“The boxer’s explanation was accepted by UKAD and then advised to us,” said Robert Smith, the general secretary of the BBBofC, told The Ring. “Therefore, he was warned as to his future conduct. ... All the stuff that was supplied was looked at, and his explanation for the charge was accepted by UKAD. ... UKAD were not going to take it any further.”

As a result, Munguía’s victory over Surace will stand. The win avenged one of boxing’s biggest upsets in 2024, as Surace climbed off the canvas to win by sixth-round knockout Dec. 14. Despite splitting their two fights, Munguía (45-2, 32 KOs) of Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, doesn’t envision a third fight against Surace (26-1-2, 5 KOs) of Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France, happening.

“I think Surace is not an option anymore,” Munguía told The Ring on Sept. 10 through a translator. “We did what we had to do. I think that's a chapter that is closed, and now we are looking for other challenges, for other fighters. We'll see what can come up this year and have a big fight next year.”

Before enrolling in VADA, Greene said that Munguía declared some of the supplements he’d be taking ahead of the rematch with Surace. After the adverse finding, Munguía sent 74 items to the SMRTL Lab in Utah to be tested, which included supplements, creams, lotions, medicine, foods and hotel shampoos he had used ahead of and on the day of the rematch.

Of those items, four supplements were contaminated with pregnenolone, while none had evidence that they were contaminated with the exogenous testosterone that returned an adverse finding.

Greene cited multiple studies, including a 2014 Wang Study, to back his claim that pregnenolone could produce “false-negative or false positive results in doping tests,” while one antidoping expert who requested anonymity told The Ring that pregnenolone alone can’t cause an adverse finding in an IRMS test.

The WBC corroborated both cases, stating that there are scientific publications that Munguía’s team provided “that can be interpreted as supporting his position,” though, they added that the “Ingestion of pregnenolone is not considered a valid justification for Mr. Munguía’s adverse finding.”

The WBC is treating the adverse finding as a first offense for Munguía and placing him on probation for one year retroactive to the date of the adverse finding. He’ll be subjected to additional random drug tests, among other stipulations.

Munguía conducted multiple tests, which included blood, hair and nail tests and a polygraph test at FBI-approved offices, per a WBC newsletter that was sent Sept. 9.

The WBC later said on its website on Sept. 17 that Munguía’s primary defense was “he had unintentionally and unknowingly consumed at least four supplements which were contaminated with pregnenolone, and his unknowing ingestion of pregnenolone-contaminated supplements explained the adverse finding.”

It also stated: “The WBC Results Management considered Mr. Munguía’s defense and could not determine with reasonable certainty the ultimate causal source of the Adverse Finding.”

Munguía, 28, said the sanctioning body’s involvement in the aftermath of his adverse finding was due to his ranking by the WBC at super middleweight, though, his rematch vs. Surace wasn’t sanctioned by the group.

“My relationship with the WBC and Mauricio is really great,” Munguía said. “They've been really supportive of me. We've had a lot of meetings where we showed our scientific evidence. They wanted to make sure that everything was done the right way.

“Even though they didn't sanction the fight, they needed to see if it was going to be clear or not. So they had a process because I'm enrolled with VADA. ... I needed to prove to [the WBC], even though they were supportive, that I was innocent.”

Munguía is ranked No. 3 (WBC), No. 4 (IBF) and ninth (WBO).