LOS ANGELES — May 5 has come and gone with no Canelo Alvarez rematch against Gennady Golovkin.

Instead, GGG ran over late replacement Vanes Martirosyan in two rounds after Alvarez tested positive for the banned substance clenbuterol.

Alvarez blamed the adverse finding on consuming contaminated meat in his Guadalajara, Mexico, and he was subsequently suspended for six months.

The Mexican star submitted a hair follicle sample at the request of the Nevada commission, and that result came back negative, lending credence to Canelo’s claim that meat caused the substance to be found in his system.

A possible future foe, Jermall Charlo, buys Canelo’s alibi.

“I don’t think Canelo is a cheater, to be honest with you,” Jermall Charlo (27-0, 21 knockouts) told THE RING on Tuesday during a media luncheon to promote his twin brother Jermell’s title defense against Austin Trout on June 9. “He’s my age, I just know something didn’t go right in the camp.

“I said it before, but at the same time, you’re too professional, you have too much money to be making mistakes like that. You been in the game too long to make this mistake. But I don’t feel like he naturally cheated, like he intended to cheat. I just feel like he didn’t do everything the right way.”

Charlo, a former titleholder at 154 pounds, moved up to 160 and immediately established himself as a force at middleweight with a destructive knockout of no-hoper Sebastian Heiland.

The 27-year-old returned last month with another sterling performance, a second-round knockout of Hugo Centeno. The Houston native is currently rated No. 5 by THE RING, and

With his blend of size, speed and punching power, Charlo looms as a legitimate threat to both Canelo and GGG once their business together is completed.

Mike Coppinger is the Senior Writer for RingTV.com. Follow him on Twitter: @MikeCoppinger