The duel between former British heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua and his compatriot Dillian Whyte is cancelled. The fight was supposed to take place next Saturday at the O2 Arena in London, but was cancelled after a positive doping test for Whyte. This was announced by the organizer Matchroom Boxing after a corresponding notification from the responsible anti-doping agency. There should now be a comprehensive investigation, it said.
The 35-year-old Whyte actually wanted to take revenge against the 33-year-old Joshua for a defeat in December 2015. The two had also fought against each other in the amateur sector. It is questionable whether there will be another settlement.
It is already the second time that Whyte is conspicuous in a doping test. In July 2019, there were reports of increased levels of the active ingredients epi-methandienone and hydroxy-methandienone in a test. At the time, Whyte filed a lawsuit against the findings and the announced suspensions and was rehabilitated by the British Anti-Doping Agency.
In order to curb the use of illicit substances in boxing, many organizers and the major world federations now prescribe voluntary tests by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA). These are carried out before and after major fights. VADA only transmits the results, but cannot itself issue bans or impose similar consequences. In the current case of Whyte, a voluntary test during the preparation for battle is also crucial for the ban.
The world federations decide on a case-by-case basis how to deal with positive findings. Big names in particular always get away with comparatively low penalties. In 2018, for example, Mexican superstar Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez got away without a long ban despite two positive tests, after credibly assuring that he had probably eaten meat contaminated with growth hormones.
The most prominent German boxer convicted of doping is former middleweight and super middleweight world champion Felix Sturm. Sturm was even sentenced to prison on the basis of the German anti-doping law after he was found to have the anabolic steroid stanozolol. Although Sturm always denied this, the judge saw it as proven that he had cheated "deliberately" and "according to plan" and attested to boxing "great difficulties with the issue of doping".
ara/mmm