Chavez’s fine for pot slashed to $100,000

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Nevada State Athletic Commission has slashed boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.’s fine over a failed drug test from $900,000 to $100,000.

Commission members took the action Friday after Chavez’s attorneys argued the excessive fine violated the boxer’s constitutional rights and negotiated to reduce it.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports (http://bit.ly/19KNlVq ) the 27-year-old former WBC middleweight champion did not attend the meeting.

Chavez tested positive for marijuana after his first professional loss in Las Vegas on Sept. 15.

He was slapped with the $900,000 fine by the commission on Feb. 28 as a repeat offender of the panel’s drug policy. Chavez had tested positive for diuretics in 2009.

He has served a nine-month suspension that was part of the original punishment and will return to the ring Sept. 7 against Brian Vera in Los Angeles.

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Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com