By Keith Idec

NEW YORK – Matt Korobov isn’t concerned about Jermall Charlo missing a random Voluntary Anti-Doping Association test late last month.

Even if he were, the Russian southpaw wouldn’t have turned down the type of opportunity that has fallen into Korobov’s proverbial lap. Korobov trusts that the VADA tests Charlo has passed since that missed test mean Charlo is clean entering their 12-round, 160-pound championship match Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Korobov discussed the controversy Charlo caused when it was revealed a VADA employee came to his home in suburban Houston late in November, only to find that Charlo wasn’t in town. Jermall Charlo’s twin brother, Jermell Charlo, lives nearby and also missed a random VADA test that day.

Jermall Charlo explained to a group of reporters Wednesday that he and his brother were out of town to promote their fights Saturday night. They violated VADA protocol by not alerting the organization that runs the WBC’s Clean Boxing Program as to their whereabouts.

VADA officials accepted the Charlos’ explanation and fined each of them.

“It’s a done deal,” Korobov told krikya360.com on Thursday. “We’re gonna fight anyway, so [I’m] not [worried] at all. I’ve just been tested. I’m clean.”

Korobov replaced Willie Monroe Jr., Jermall Charlo’s original opponent, on Monday because Monroe violated VADA’s rules by testing positive for “a steroidal substance,” according to a statement released by the WBC. The 35-year-old Korobov believes the WBC’s Clean Boxing Program is at least a step in the right direction toward making boxing safer for fighters.

When Korobov turned pro, he thought the testing programs in place were “a joke.”

“I was surprised when I was moved to pro how guys were tested not randomly, like in the amateurs,” Korobov said. “You just come to the fight, somebody gets tested, somebody don’t. If you knocked somebody out, you got tested. If not, then you’re not [tested]. Some of it was kind of a joke. But I’m glad I’m part of this WBC program.”

Jermall Charlo, meanwhile, thinks too much has been made of the day he and his brother missed tests.

“Look, man, there’s been a lot of bullsh*t about the Charlos missing a VADA test,” Charlo said Wednesday. “We was out doing promotion for our fight. We was out doing something that they told us to do, something they wanted us to do. But then they sent I guess VADA or the WBC Clean Boxing Program to my brother’s house. He lives a mile away from me. They, of course, come to my house. But we not there. We out of town. But guess what? A week after that, we submit testing and we didn’t hear nothing back from it.

“Then you get all this backlash about what the Charlos made of. Get a load of that sh*t [lifts up his shirt]. That’s all natural. That’s what all natural means. That’s what all natural looks like. You know, cheaters never win and they never won. So hey, we ready for December 22nd. I don’t give a sh*t about what they do. I’m not police. I’m not into none of the police academy, VADA training. It is what it is, man.”

The bout between Houston’s Jermall Charlo (27-0, 21 KOs) and Korobov (28-1, 14 KOs), of Lantana, Florida, will headline FOX’s tripleheader Saturday night (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT).

In the 12-round, co-featured fight, Jermell Charlo (31-0, 15 KOs) will defend his WBC super welterweight title against Detroit’s Tony Harrison (27-2, 21 KOs). This three-bout broadcast will begin with heavyweights Dominic Breazeale (19-1, 17 KOs), of Eastvale, California, and Carlos Negron (20-1, 16 KOs), of Villalba, Puerto Rico, in a 10-rounder.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.