Anthony Joshua vs Dillian Whyte bout in jeopardy over doping scandal
[ad_1]
A doping scandal derailed one of the biggest bouts of the year in professional boxing, in which Britain’s Anthony Joshua, the former heavyweight king dreaming of a title return, was scheduled to face fellow countryman Dillian Whyte. The cause of the breakdown was White’s positive doping test. He claims that he did not take illegal drugs, but the background of this boxer makes him distrustful of his words.
promotion company Matchroom Boxing announced the cancellation of the fight, which was supposed to take place on August 12 in London and was one of the most high-profile in professional boxing this year. It’s about the duel of two British heavyweights – Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte. Of particular interest to him was provided primarily by the person of Joshua. A couple of years ago, he was considered the undisputed king of the category. However, two consecutive unexpected defeats from Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk in 2021 and 2022 deprived Briton of this status and three championship belts – the International Boxing Federation (IBF), the World Boxing Association (WBA) and the World Boxing Organization (WBO).
Anthony Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn did not hide the fact that they wanted to return the championship title as soon as possible, and circumstances favored them.
The fact is that Usyk could not agree about the match for the title of absolute champion with the owner of the World Boxing Council (WBC) belt, another British fighter Tyson Fury. And this is believed to have eased the way to the top for other highly rated boxers, including, of course, Joshua.
The Dillian Whyte fight meant a lot to him. Anthony Joshua’s first performance since misfires against Oleksandr Usyk came in April when he was convincing but lacking in points figured out with little-known American Jermaine Franklin. Dillian Whyte is a much more rated boxer who has had a bunch of top fights, and in 2022 participating in a championship fight with Tyson Fury, and success in a meeting with him would dramatically increase Joshua’s shares. In addition, he could show him much better than the duel with Franklin the effectiveness of working with a new coach, Derrick James, and completely new training methods.
The reason for the failure of the fight was the “adverse” results of the analysis of the doping test of Dillian Whyte, taken by a long-standing anti-doping structure collaborating with professional boxing called VADA. What drug was found in it is not reported.
Meanwhile, White himself said on his X (formerly Twitter) account that he was “shocked and devastated” by the news. He claims “without a shadow of a doubt” that he is innocent of the violation, since he did not take “this substance during training camp, nor at any time in his life in principle.”
However, people who are well acquainted with the biography of Dillian Whyte are likely to take these words with distrust. The fact is that in his career there have already been two unpleasant episodes related to doping.
He first came across it back in 2012. Then, after the victory over Shandor Balogh, the stimulant methylhexanamine was found in White’s sample. The athlete admitted that he could find himself in his body due to a careless attitude to nutritional supplements. As a result, White was disqualified for two years. The second time Dillian Whyte almost got into trouble was in 2019. But he was lucky. The British Anti-Doping Agency (UKADA) showed amazing mercy to the boxer, considering that the concentration of steroids in his next sample was too low to apply any sanctions to White. Otherwise, Dillian Whyte’s career could have effectively ended due to repeated testing failures.
Matchroom Boxing still hopes that Anthony Joshua will be able to enter the ring on Saturday, and White will be able to find a replacement. According to ESPN, instead Joshua could face either Croat Filip Hrgovic or British veteran Derek Chisora. Both appear among the participants in the “undercard” of the London show. Hrgovic was supposed to fight Demsey McKean and Chisora was supposed to fight Gerald Washington.
[ad_2]
Source link
