By Lem Satterfield

Southpaw WBA junior middleweight king Austin Trout told BoxingScene.com that he has been cleared of blame for having failed the post-fight drug test following his June 11 unanimous decision over David "Destroyer" Lopez  in San Luis Potosi, Mex.

The 25-year-old Trout of Las Cruces, New Mexico, rose to 23-0 with 13 knockouts following his victory over Lopez (40-13, 23KOs), this after being cleared by WBA president Gilberto Mendoza following an initial positive test for marijuana.

Although Trout said that he was never officially contacted by Mendoza, the WBA official notified sports reporter, Beau Bagley, assistant sports director of KTSM/KDBC-TV in El Paso, Tex., in a Tuesday e-mail that the WBA "has ratified Trout as champion and invalidated the result of the drug tests from Mexico."

The infraction against Trout threatened to render his verdict a no-contest, resulting in his being stripped of his crown and Lopez getting a direct shot for the vacant belt.

Trout said that he has returned to training for an Aug. 24 defense of his belt against Australia's Anthony Mundine (42-4, 25 KOs) with an eye toward a November clash with southpaw WBO titlist Sergei Dzinziruk (37-1, 23 KOs).

Trout also has designs on facing 20-year-old WBC champ Saul Alvarez (37-0-2, 27 knockouts), WBA super world titlist Miguel Cotto (36-2, 29 KOs) or IBF champ Cornelius Bundrage (31-4, 18 KOs) as well.