Australian boxer Lucas Browne (picture) has said he can prove he arrived in Chechnya a clean athlete days before he failed a drugs test following his WBA heavyweight title fight against Ruslan Chagaev.

Browne last month became Australia’s first world heavyweight champion when he stopped Chagaev in the 10th round of their fight, but last week the WBA announced the 36-year-old had tested positive for clenbuterol.

Browne vowed to clear his name, and in a statement said he took a test conducted by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) on his arrival in Grozny which returned a negative result.

“I now hold clear evidence that this test was a negative test and shows clearly that arrived in Chechnya a clean athlete,” Browne said.

“Following that clean test I ate only at the hotel in which we were hosted and at the meal following the boxers media weigh-in. The water I drank on the night of the first was sealed bottled water.”

Browne’s team are now investigating how he might have ingested clenbuterol in the days before the fight.