The World Boxing Council ordered an immediate rematch between Shinsuke Yamanaka and Luis Nery for its bantamweight title on Tuesday, three months after the latter failed a drug test.
The sanctioning body issued a ruling saying "the WBC cannot make a determination with sufficient certainty as to whether Mr. Nery's adverse finding was the result of intentional ingestion of a banned substance to improve performance."
Yamanaka said he will return to the ring to take on the Mexican and make up for his loss on Aug. 15, when he was denied his 13th straight title defense.
"I've been thinking that I don't want to end my career," Yamanaka said at his gym in Tokyo. "I want to get back at him."
Yamanaka's Teiken Gym president Akihiko Honda had originally said the 35-year-old would hang up his gloves if he was not awarded a rematch with Nery.
A week after the bout, the WBC announced that Nery, 22, failed a drug test performed in the lead-up to the fight with an amount of the banned substance Zilpaterol detected. The findings were from Nery's "A" sample taken July 27, but additional tests taken in Japan gave negative results.
Nery did not request an analysis of his "B" sample, according to a statement issued by the WBC Board of Governors.
On Tuesday, the WBC revealed that Nery provided a sworn statement denying taking any performance-enhancing drugs. His team claims he ate contaminated beef during a training camp in Mexico, something it said is a known issue in some countries.
Nery has a perfect 24-0 record with 18 knockouts, while Yamanaka is 27-1-2 including 19 knockouts.