The Japan Boxing Commission announced Monday that Kenichi Ogawa is eligible to fight once again after serving a one-year suspension for failing a doping test.
Ogawa lost his IBF super featherweight belt and was banned for six months last winter after a doping test conducted in the lead-up to his Dec. 9 title fight in Las Vegas against American Tevin Farmer came back positive.
He was the first Japanese boxer to be stripped of a world title for failing a doping test.
The JBC's suspension was retroactive to Dec. 10, 2017, the day after Ogawa won the then-vacant title by beating Farmer in a split decision.
In April, the Nevada State Athletic Commission invalidated the fight and handed down a six-month ban for the 30-year-old Ogawa after it was confirmed he tested positive for two forms of androstanediol, a synthetic testosterone, in a urine test conducted on Dec. 5.
A drug test after the fight came back negative, and Ogawa denied knowingly ingesting a banned substance.
Following news of the positive test in January, a source close to the matter said medicine for Ogawa's skin condition may have triggered the positive result.