ERKAN TEPER’S swift return to boxing after a failed drug test has been branded ‘mad’ by his former foe David Price.
Teper tested positive for banned substances before and after his knockout win over Price [pictured above] last July when he won the vacant European heavyweight title.
The EBU stripped him of the belt and banned him for two years while the German Commission (BDB) banned him for one year. However they allowed him to face Derric Rossy last night, three weeks before his measly suspension was due to finish.
“They’ve given him a ‘reprieve,’ it’s mad. They’ve said he’ll be tested constantly but at his own expense. He won on points over 10 rounds and I heard he laboured to it,” Price told Boxing News.
“It’ll be interesting to see how he performed while not on banned substances.
“When I first saw that he was fighting I thought, ‘what the f***?’ I think he spent about one month out the ring more than I did. It’s a bit of a kick in the balls.”
At the end of May Price fought for the first time since his loss to Teper, blitzing Vaclav Pejsar inside two rounds.
Teper, meanwhile, earned scores of 98-92, 97-93 and 96-94 over 36-year-old Rossy, who has won just one of his last five fights.
The news of his failed drug test was only revealed by the BDB earlier this year, prompting the EBU to take action and the IBF – with whom Teper earned a lofty ranking after his win over Price – to remove him from their rankings.
As the BDB – who sanctioned the fight with Price, and Teper’s fight with Rossy as both took place in Germany – did not change the result of the Price win to a no contest, Teper’s record now stands at 16-0 (10). Teper is now free to continue boxing – though not in any EBU-sanctioned fights, at least for another year.
