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By: Peter Akinbo.
Former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua believes that boxing has a doping problem and has called for more random drug tests to prevent the malaise, days after Dillian Whyte failed a doping test ahead of their fight.
The two fighters had been due to meet at London’s O2 Arena in a rematch of their 2015 bout, which Joshua won, but the fight was cancelled after the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association said Whyte had returned adverse analytical findings in a random dope test.
Whyte, who had previously served a two-year ban from 2012 to 2014 after testing positive for a banned stimulant, said he had not taken the reported substance after the latest test. Finn Robert Helenius stepped in at short notice to fight Joshua.
“There’s a doping problem in the sport, definitely, it happens in boxing. It’s not the first (time) and won’t be the last.”
Professional boxing does not adhere to the World Anti-Doping Agency code, and VADA offers regulatory services for certain boxers or promotions.
“But how can people get away with doping if you’re getting random drug tests? I get drug-tested all year round,” the 33-year-old Joshua said.
“Every quarter, I have to submit my whereabouts, where I’m going to be, every day, for (a 60-minute time slot) so they can turn up randomly. I’ve submitted that every day of my life since 2011, so I don’t know why I’m under this pressure but all these other boxers aren’t. When you sign up to a promoter they should all have that in the deal.”
Whyte is not an isolated case in recent years as former light-welterweight world champion Amir Khan was banned for two years in April after a prohibited substance was detected in his sample following his fight against Kell Brook.
British welterweight Conor Benn resumed his career last month after being cleared by UK Anti-Doping following a probe into two failed voluntary drug tests last year.
The outcome of the Whyte bout could have put either fighter in the frame for a lucrative clash with former WBC champion Deontay Wilder in Saudi Arabia.
