SIX months after an adverse finding on a performance-enhancing drug test threatened to scupper his headline fight on a pay-per-view, heavyweight contender Dillian Whyte is now monitoring the situation regarding an adverse finding on Tyson Fury’s 2015 drug test in the hope that it will deliver him a WBC world heavyweight title.
Only in boxing.
With Whyte now all clear to fight, he is set to box Alexander Povetkin in May (one of many fights unlikely to happen due to the coronavirus pandemic) and could later this year, but more likely next year, meet Fury for the WBC heavyweight title.
That is if Fury is still the WBC champion and not serving a lengthy ban following fresh doping claims levelled against him in an article in The Mail on Sunday last weekend. These claims are apparently being investigated by UK Anti-Doping – so expect some sort of conclusion in 2022, by which time the world will likely have ended – and Fury, if found guilty of bribing a pig farmer, could apparently be handed an eight-year ban.
Again, only in boxing.
“As I understand, it’s going to be looked into by UKAD,” Eddie Hearn, Dillian Whyte’s promoter, told Sky Sports. “I guess the truth will come out in the wash.
“As I understand it, the key witness in the case has come out and effectively changed his statements of what happened. I’ll let them deal with that. If I’m Dillian Whyte right now, I’m looking at that situation, knowing that if there is an issue with Tyson Fury as world champion, I become the WBC heavyweight world champion, because right now, he was suspended while an investigation was taking place.
“It’s going to be interesting to see how that plays out.”
Well, it depends very much on one’s definition of interesting.
For this next piece of news to have any relevance whatsoever, you must first imagine that Floyd Mayweather was indeed planning on making a comeback. You must believe he was serious about boxing again, either against another boxer or, more likely, a mixed martial artist, and that all the talk of a return was building towards something greater than publicity and the goal of keeping his name in the media.
If you can do that then news of his proposed comeback being put on hold, as reported by TMZ, will mean something to you. Not only that, it will make complete sense, too, in light of the recent personal tragedies Mayweather has experienced, and it should probably be applauded.
Undefeated Mayweather, arguably one of the greatest boxers of all time, was hit hard by the death of his uncle and former trainer Roger Mayweather on Tuesday, which came just seven days after Mayweather’s ex-girlfriend Josie Harris was found dead in her car outside her home in California. Boxing, therefore, should be the last thing on his mind. The same goes for making money.
