Heavyweight champion Fury fails drugs test
Heavyweight champion may be stripped of belts
LONDON: Tyson Fury was fighting for his boxing future on Friday after a media report said he had tested positive for cocaine and faced being stripped of his heavyweight title belts.
The 28-year-old Briton had been due to defend the WBA and WBO world titles against former champion Wladimir Klitschko in Manchester on Oct 29, but the bout was called off abruptly last week for a second time, for unspecified medical reasons.
A spokesman for Fury’s promoters Hennessy Sports declined to discuss the cocaine claims, which were made by US-based broadcaster ESPN, which said that the troubled Fury tested positive after giving a random urine sample on Sept 22.
Contacted by Press Association Sport, the spokesman said the beleaguered Fury camp would not be making a statement.
ESPN reported Fury was tested by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (Vada), which is based in Las Vegas, as part of the routine agreed by both fighters before the fight.
One attempt at a rematch with the Ukrainian Klitschko, scheduled to take place on July 9, had already been abandoned because of an apparent ankle injury sustained by the controversial British fighter.
Contacted for comment regarding Fury, Vada, which specialises in testing competitors from boxing and mixed martial arts, said it does not release results of samples unless at an athlete’s request.
Providing the test was taken on an out-of-competition basis, Fury stands to face no sanctions such as a ban.
But he risks losing his belts due to inactivity, ESPN said, having failed to make a title defence this year.
If confirmed, the cocaine claim would be the latest in a series of damning episodes for the British boxer.
After his ankle injury it then emerged that UK-Anti Doping (Ukad) had charged the champion over a urine sample taken in February 2015, and his cousin Hughie with a doping offence.
It was alleged the sample — taken nine months before Tyson Fury’s defeat of Klitschko to take his belts — contained traces of the banned substance nandrolone.
Fury was provisionally suspended, but that ban has since been lifted and his legal team had said they would be suing Ukad over the allegations. His hearing will be held in November.
TOWELL DIES AFTER FIGHT
Scottish boxer Mike Towell has died in hospital after being seriously hurt in a fight, his management company confirmed yesterday.
The 25-year-old Dundee fighter was stretchered from the ring following a fifth-round loss to Welshman Dale Evans in a St Andrews Sporting Club fight at a Glasgow hotel on Thursday.
He was taken by ambulance to the city’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, but in the early hours of yesterday morning his management team said he had died with his family at his bedside.
“Within the last hour Mike Towell passed away — he will always be in our hearts #RIPIronMike,” St Andrews Sporting Club said on Twitter.
Towell’s partner, Chloe Ross, wrote on Facebook: “I’m absolutely heartbroken to say my annoying best friend passed away tonight at 11.02 very peacefully.”
Boxing trainer Shane McGuigan tweeted: “Heartbreaking news that Mike Towell has lost his life. May he rest in peace, thoughts go out to his loved ones. #RIP”
British promoter Eddie Hearn said: “Absolutely devastated by the passing of Mike Towell — all of our thoughts with his friends and family at this time.”
Towell was knocked down twice in the fight before referee Victor Loughlin stopped the bout in the fifth round.
Towell had been unbeaten prior to the fight, a British welterweight title eliminator, with 11 wins and one draw on his professional record.