Lawrence Okolie has pledged to “clear my name” after a failed a drugs test ahead of his bout against Tony Yoka this weekend.
The British fighter, a former cruiserweight world champion, had been scheduled to face the Frenchman in Paris on Saturday but that event is now in doubt. Okolie is a former world champion at cruiserweight who moved up to heavyweight. He is the No 1-ranked contender by the WBC, whose belt is held by Oleksandr Usyk.
In an announcement, the promoter Queensberry wrote: “Last night the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (Vada) informed Queensberry that Lawrence Okolie returned an adverse finding following an anti-doping test conducted ahead of the show. A further update regarding the event will be made it due course.”
In a personal post on Instagram, Okolie wrote: “Before anyone starts imagining the worst, following my bicep injury last year, I sustained an elbow injury on the same arm during this camp.
“I had a treatment on it and now here we are. I truly hope sense prevails. I will of course be fully co-operating with all the relevant authorities and I’m confident any investigation will clear my name.”
Okolie’s intended opponent Yoka took the super-heavyweight gold medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. He served a one-year ban imposed by the French anti-doping agency in 2018 for failing to give a doping sample three times in a one-year period.